When Hermione Went Back in Time
by Seren Blaidd
Summary: Trapped in 1977, Sirius and Remus clearly want to be more than friends, Lily and James are destined for death and Peter Pettigrew is unexpectedly nice. Hermione decides to change the past with epically disastrous consequences.


**AN:This is quite a long story and it is not yet finished. I am still writing it.  
**

Hermione Granger had flung herself back in time. It was the result of being the most gifted witch of her age. She was only eighteen, and had returned to Hogwarts to take her final year, which she'd missed, saving the world with her best friend, Harry, and her boyfriend, Ron.

.

Anyhow, she was in the restricted section of the Library. The spell was complicated but she was gifted. An incantation and a flick of the wrist later, she was blasted sideways into a bookcase and woke up to see Harry peering down at her.

.

"Harry?" She groaned.

"Why not." Harry grinned brightly. "That was impressive!"

"I was trying to travel through time." Hermione told him, irritably. "It is a very complicated spell, which you couldn't begin to understand, Harry. Where's Ron?"

"Pads! Come be Ron!" Harry hissed, rather too loudly for the school library.

"You what, Prongs?" Someone who clearly was not Ron asked. It sounded like Malfoy, but reassuringly turned out to be two Gryffindor girls.

"You're 'Ron'." Harry said. "I'm Harry. And this is…?"

"What?" Hermione asked, trying to stand up and finding the spell, or the fall, had turned her legs to jelly.

.

"What's your name?" The dark haired girl asked; clearly, at this point, not a girl at all but a very pretty boy, with long, loose, black hair. Hermione peered at him, upside down, for a moment. She closed her eyes to try and make him less fuzzy, and blinked him back into focus. Yes, definitely male.

.

"Who are you?" She stammered, sure she _did_ recognise him, and also at a loss to who he was, because even though they had re-joined the school in Ginny's year, she definitely didn't know who this was.

.

"I'm Ron." The boy told her, kneeling down, so she could see him very clearly. He was actually beautiful, in an impressively imperfect way. Shoulder-length jet black hair fell forward as he lent over her, smooth creamy skin was grazed sorely on his high cheekbone and his lips were full and pouty, but slightly dry and bitten. _Stop staring at people's lips_, Hermione ordered herself. She pulled her eyes back to the boys and stared into his wide silver eyes. It seemed to take a long time for either of them to blink. He had very thick black lashes.

.

"…You have a glamour spell on you." She concluded. The bitten lips quirked into an impossibly amused smile. Leaning over him, peering down at her as well, Harry snorted with laughter.

"No, love." The boy assured her. "If I did a glamour spell on this, my loveliness might blind people."

.

"Harry?" Hermione said, ripping her eyes away and looking firmly at Harry. "Harry, can you help me stand up, I feel like I've been hit with a Jellylegs Jinx."

"Maybe you have." The boy holding her said. "Help her stand up, Harry."

"But of course, sorry about that, Ron." Harry jumped into life, catching her arm and helping her upright.

.

Hermione wobbled, clutching Harry's arm, but looking at his friend. "Are you really called Ron?" She asked, uncertainly.

"Yes, Ron, that's me." He assured her with a brilliant white-toothed smile. "And this is my good friend, Harry, who you clearly know very well."

"Yes, I do." Hermione nodded, letting them both help her to a chair. "Harry… I think my spell went wrong."

"Yes, it's done something hilarious to your hair." The beautiful Ron told her. "Unless you two are actually related, Harry?"

"You never know." Harry pointed out. Hermione looked at him nervously, which made Harry laugh. "Actually, clearly we do know." He concluded. "For we are 'very' good friends, are we not?" He waggled his eyebrows at her, grinning brightly.

"Harry?" Hermione stammered. "I feel really strange. You are acting strangely, or this spell has done something to my brain. You're not…?" She turned back to the exceptionally beautiful Ron, staring at his pouty bitten lips and his blinking silver eyes, uncertainly. "…Ron?" She asked.

"Yes, it's me, Ron." The other Ron agreed. "I think you've banged your head, that's all. It's me, Ron, and Harry. And here you are in the library, see, your favourite place." Hermione laughed.

"Ron?" She said, eyeing him suspiciously. "You're not…? My boyfriend is called Ron. Harry's best friend, Ron Weasley."

"That's me." Ron said, at once. "How hard was that bang to the head, darling? Do I look so different?"

"Yes." Hermione said. She looked up at Harry, suspiciously.

"That's Ron." Harry assured her. "He looks normal to me. Just same old Ron, my best buddy. You feel the same as ever, Ron, mate?"

"Definitely." Ron assured her. "I think it's just you, darling love of mine. Want me to kiss you and see if you can tell it's still me?"

"Errr…" Hermione stammered. "Here? In the library?"

"It's your favourite place." Ron reminded her. "Can you think of anything more fun than my lips, on yours, surrounded by loads of old books… You know who that makes me think of, Prongs?"

"Nope. I absolutely refuse to consider that statement." Harry said brightly. "Give her a good snog, Ron, see if she can 'tell' its you."

"Good thinking, Harry, my good man." Ron said, brightly. "Alright, brace yourself, love of my life!"  
"I'm not sure you are Ron…" Hermione stammered, before she was flung back into the armchair, with the other Ron's strong cool hand cradling the back of her neck, looking at her, up close, with his glimmering silver eyes, before pressing their lips together, slowly squashing her protest into the cushion of his slightly rough lips, and, as she opened her mouth to protest, full on kissing into her; hot mouths, hot tongues, fingers kneading into her hair, his body crushing her into the armchair.

.

Hermione gasped as he pulled back. He was still cradling her jaw in both hands, eyes impossibly close and out of focus. Just as she tried to speak he bit her bottom lip, holding it carefully between his teeth. Hermione gasped. He let go, smiling sweetly as he climbed off her lap.

.

"Well?" He asked. "Could you tell I'm still Ron?" Hermione said the only, utterly honest, thing she could manage.

"_No_."

The other Ron gave a hard bark of laughter, pressing his face into Harrys shoulder to try and smother his amusement.

.

"…You're not Ron, are you?" Hermione said, finally. Her voice was shaking and she was sure her cheeks were _scarlet_.

"Harry, tell her." The other Ron said.

"He is definitely Ron." Harry said. "Are you fishing for more 'proof'?"

.

Hermione stared at them, crushed into the chair, panting. "I would love to take this 'demonstration' of my 'Ron-ness' further." The other Ron said, still trying to keep a straight face. But as you doubt I am your beloved 'Ron', it is hardly appropriate for me to continue. Tragic but true."

"Ron?" Hermione said, trying to make her brain stop melting and pull itself together again. "I really think I've banged my head." She said again. "Weasley!" She added, triumphantly. Harry and the other Ron glanced at each other. "What's your surname, Ron?" She added, breathlessly. The other Ron considered this, biting his, now bruised, pouty lip.

"Weasley, you moron!" Harry exclaimed, cuffing him round the head.

"Potter!" A shrill voice hissed, behind them, making Harry swing round to face the librarian, Madame Pince. "This section is restricted, get out, all of you!"

"I hope you realise who you're speaking to." Harry cried, outraged. "I am the Headboy!"

"I don't care who you are." Pince shouted, angrily. "You don't use this section without a letter from a professor."

"That's not nice, Pince." The other Ron said, treading into her personal space, as the little librarian glared up at him, clenched fists on her hips. "I'll set my werewolf on you." Ron whispered, leaning close to her face before snapping like a biting dog, so she jolted backwards and tripped into the bookcases. Laughing hard, he followed Harry out of the library.

.

"I have permission to be here." Hermione stammered, her eyes searching the table for her bag and work. But there was nothing there, and she scrambled out of the armchair and chased after Harry as fast as her wobbly legs would let her.

.

Ch.2

.

"Harry!" She caught up with him by the Portrait Hole. He was still with the other Ron, and took a moment to realise she was calling him.

"Drat, I'm sorry, lovely girlfriend of Ron's." Harry exclaimed brightly. "We abandoned you to the tender mercy of The Pincer, didn't we? Shame on us, Ron. Particularly on you, with her being your girlfriend."

"No. I've dumped her." Ron told him. "I think she kissed me under false pretences, which is creepy. It's for the best. Bad luck, love."

"You're not Ron." Hermione told him, staring at him as she suddenly recognised that arrogant smirk. Her legs, just recovered, threatened to turn back to jelly as she stammered, rather fearfully. "_You look like Tom Riddle._"

.

"Yeah, that is Tom, really." Harry said at once. "We were just joking about the Ron thing, weren't we, Tom?"

"Harry, _Tom Riddle! Do_ you remember who Tom Riddle is!?" Hermione demanded. Harry, looking deeply offended at being interrupted, scowled at her.

"Yes." He said. "He is my best friend, who you pretended was Ron, so he'd kiss you. An elaborate ploy worthy of…" He paused, studying her, carefully. "…I've never seen you around before." He said. "Have you, Tom?"

.

Hermione drew her wand as fast as she could, levelling it on the dark-haired boy. "I know who you are." She hissed. "I don't know what you're doing here, but I know who you are! Get away from Harry! It's Tom Riddle!"

.

Harry laughed. "Love." He said. "You have seriously banged your head. Tom Riddle is no way even a real name!"

"It is a real name." The black haired boy snapped. Hermione stared at him, fear thumping through her veins.

"_Get away from Harry_!" She shouted again, brandishing the wand. She hexed him, or tried to; disarmed faster than she could blink, her wand flying through the air to land in the boys free hand.

.

"_Now_." He said, softly. "To clarify; I am not your boyfriend, I am not 'Ron', and I am not Tom Riddle…"  
"Who is not even a real person." Harry interrupted, still completely oblivious to the terrible situation they were in.

"Who _is_ a real person." The boy continued softly. "A very real person. He's my father."

.

Harry snorted, covering his mouth. "Oh, yep." He said. "That's right. This _is_ Tom Riddle, the younger."

"I know." Hermione whispered.

"How do you know?" Tom Riddle, asked. "_How do you know that_?"

.

"Know what?" Harry asked, catching the very real confusion in the other boys voice. "What is it, mate?" Tom Riddle looked at him, thoughtfully, before lowering his voice.

"You know, what I said, about my mother…?"

"_Nooo_!" Harry exclaimed, gasping in surprise. "This 'Tom Riddle' is your _actual_ father? That is the…" He lowered his voice, glancing up the empty corridor. "That is the fella who your mother…?"

"Yes." He nodded, looking at Hermione carefully. "Tom Riddle. That was his name… How do you know that?" He added, sharply. "I'm not joking. Tell me, or we'll force it out of you, the hard way."

"I know what you look like." Hermione said, refusing to let her fear creep into her voice. "I don't know what you're doing here. I've seen you in a pensive, when you were eleven… We've killed you once and we _will_ kill you again."

.

"Yeah, she is _insane_, Pads." Harry concluded. "I'm starting to feel we should take her to Pomfrey."

"What pensive?" The other boy asked, ignoring it. "When I was eleven? What?"

"I know what you look like." Hermione repeated. "You were younger then, but you're exactly as everyone described you, tall, jet black hair, slim, very handsome and charming. Even your elegant hands, your long slim fingers… Your eyes… Your eyes?" And here Hermione paused, sure that Tom Riddle actually had very dark brown eyes, before he had started splitting his soul and turning them to that inhuman red.

.

"I've got my mother's eyes." He said, at once. "But yes, I think I must look like him because I certainly haven't got the pureblood blond hair that most of my family have, or even my cousins light or dark brown curls."

"I don't know who you are." Harry interrupted, suddenly. "But whoever you are, you are definitely not a Gryffindor student, unless you've taken poly-juice. How do you know who his father is?"

"Because I look that much like him?" The boy interrupted as well. "Do I?" He added, uncertainly. "Small wonder my parents hate my guts."

"This isn't okay." Harry said, firmly. Tom Riddle, junior, nodded.

"Infirmary?" He suggested.

"No. _Dumbledore_." Harry said. "Move, girly!" And he gestured her to walk ahead of them down the corridor, to Dumbledore's office.

.

.

Dumbledore was sitting at his desk. Alive. He watched them stepping inside, gesturing for the wands to be placed on his desk, which Tom Riddle did.

.

"Sir." Hermione said, as calmly as she could manage. "Something very strange has happened. You died. Severus Snape killed you. And, this is Tom Riddle, and Harry thinks he's Ron." She stared at the supposed to be dead Headmaster, praying he could sort this out, as easily as he had always seemed to when he was alive.

.

Dumbledore sighed, rather wearily. "What have you done this time, Potter?" He asked, turning to Harry.

"We met in the Library." Harry said. "She said we were 'Harry and Ron'. Now she's saying I'm Harry and he's 'Tom Riddle'. We don't know who she is."

"But that's my real father's name." Tom Riddle added. "Which is not something my parents publicise, obviously."

"Do you think she's come from the past?" Harry suggested. "She was clearly disorientated and she said something about using a time-travel spell."

"You were at school with Tom Riddle?" Tom Riddle asked, looking round at her. "And my mother, Wallberga Black?"

.

"…What?" Hermione stammered. She stared at the boy in front of her, and then her legs turned back into jelly and she clutched at the wall, because now she knew _exactly who he was._ "_Sirius_?" she whispered.

.

"And now you know him!?" Harry snorted.

"Yes. I know… _Sirius_?" Hermione whispered, her eyes running over and over him. Sirius, totally and unmistakably, a very young, undamaged, Sirius. "You go to Azkaban." She said, her voice starting to shake uncontrollably. "You go to Azkaban, Sirius, and… and…"

"And that is quite enough of that." Dumbledore said, brightly, but exceedingly firmly. "Perhaps you would like to leave us for a moment, boys."  
"I don't think so." Harry said, at once. "Who is she? Do you know? Is she from the past?"

"No. Something's gone terribly wrong." Hermione assured him. "For us all to be here. All different times mixed up together… Sirius… You look so… so…" Sirius smiled at her, his sparkling eyes crinkling with amusement.

"Thanks." He said, and then he caught hold of her and helped her to a chair.

.

"_So?_" He said, kneeling in front of her, blocking out the whole rest of the office entirely. "Can you tell me? You _know_ me, right?"

"I know you." Hermione assured him. "I know you, Sirius..." He nodded, keeping her hands safe and firm in his own warm ones.

"Tell me." He suggested, gently. "And we'll make it okay."

"I don't think you can." Hermione groaned. "What are you doing here?"

"We'll sort it out." Sirius assured her. "Try and tell me."

"Tell you?" Hermione stammered, staring at his young perfect face.

His sparkling silver eyes, smilied up at her as he nodded. "You go to Azkaban." She said again.

"Okay." Sirius assured her. "Can you tell me what happened today?"

"I was studying in the restricted section and I was trying to time travel. The spell knocked me across the library and then you were there, with Harry. Young. Oh God, Sirius…" She added. "They're going to… hurt you, terribly. I can't believe you were like this… You're so… alive."

"And in your world I'm dead?" Sirius asked, calmly.

"Yes." Hermione whispered. "Yes, but… You were… You were nothing like this. I didn't recognise you."

"That's okay." Sirius assured her.

"It's not." Hermione said, firmly, covering her mouth. Sirius smiled, holding her hand more firmly.

"What else can you tell me?" He asked.

"I don't know." Hermione assured him. "I don't know what's different here. I need to think. Snape kills Dumbledore. There's a massive battle. Harry kills Voldemort. Then we have to go back to school to finish our N.E.W.T.s." Sirius laughed, softly.

"Bloody hell." He said. "Your world sounds brilliant. You'd think they'd let you off your N.E.W.T's for killing Voldemort. He's still destroying our world. Maybe we should be let off our N.E.W.T's to have a go at him."

"Voldemort is dead in my world." Hermione repeated. "But so are you. So is Dumbledore. A lot of people."

"Yeah. A lot of people are dead in our world because of Voldemort too." Sirius told her. Hermione stared down at his hands, holding hers and back at his face.

"You look very different." She said.

"And dead." He reminded her, ruefully. "It doesn't matter." He added, brushing her fluffy hair back behind her ears, carefully. "I'm alive here, aren't I?"

"Yes." Hermione nodded. "I'm so sorry though. I had no idea what you were like. I didn't recognise you."

"No. You thought I was Tom Riddle. Do you know him, in your world?"

.

"I must interrupt you there." Dumbledore said, sharply, clamping his hand firmly around Hermione's wrist and pulling it free from Sirius's warm grasp.

"...Sirius, do you know who Tom Riddle is?" Hermione demanded, sharply, aware that Dumbledore was actually lifting her out of the chair.

"He was at school with my mother." Sirius said, behind Dumbledore's back.

"He's…" Hermione began, her tongue curling up in response to Dumbledore's wand.

.

Hermione snatched her wand off the table and performed the reversal. _"Voldemort!"_ She shouted. _"Tom Riddle is Voldemort and in my world he is not your father_! Definitely not your father…" She fled across the room, behind Sirius' back, although Dumbledore did nothing more to stop her.

.

"…Right." Sirius said, cautiously. "In my world, Tom Riddle is my father, but he is definitely not Voldemort."

"Indeed." Dumbledore inclined his head. "This is all fascinating, I must say. So, you cast an illegal time travel spell and found yourself here. You were already in Hogwarts, I assume, and your name is…?"

"Hermione." Hermione told him. "Hermione Granger."

"Muggleborn." Harry added.

"Yes." Hermione nodded. "Which is relevant, because…?"

"It's great!" Harry pointed out. "Because you're clearly ace at magic, which is further proof that the pureblood argument is a big pile of troll dung."

"Harry, do you recognise me at all?" Hermione asked him. Harry smiled brightly at her.

"I certainly don't." He said. "Although I am finding you rather fascinating, and for the record, I'm not actually Harry."

"What?" Hermione asked. "Harry?"

"In our world, I'm not called Harry." Harry explained. "My name is James."

"James?" Hermione repeated. "…You're James Potter?"

She looked from James to Sirius and then to Dumbledore.

"That means something to you, does it?" Dumbledore asked, curiously.

"Yes." Hermione said. "What's the date?"

"Nineteen seventy eight." James said. "And in your world?"

"You've got a son and I'm the same age as him." Hermione told him.

"Harry." James said. "Hang on… _My son kills Voldemort in your world_!?"

.

"I am sure it is dangerous to discuss this." Dumbledore told them kindly. "To do so may alter things. The spell you cast was illegal, Miss Granger?"

"Yes. Even working properly. I only meant to use it like a Time-turner. I had one, once, and it was a great help."

"It was illegal." Dumbledore repeated. "And dangerous. The information you have could be of great use to Voldemort and his followers. As such I deem it my duty to conceal you, until we have established the correct course of action. I am concealing your identity from anyone who may recognise you. I trust you boys can be discrete, Potter?"

"Of course, sir." _James_ Potter said, brightly.

"Splendid. Fetch your fellow dorm mates, Black, I shall require a potion. Please, no discussing." And he swept out of the room, in a swirl of silk robes and clicking high heeled boots.

.

"We'll discuss this later." James said at once. "Just go with whatever Dumbledore says, Granger. He's on our side."

"Right." Hermione said, trying to see if his eyes were actually hazel behind his glasses. Sirius slipped a circular disk out of his robes.

"Moony." He murmured, misting it's mirrored surface with his hot breath.

"I've said you're ill. Don't show up." Came the sharp hissed reply, from the mirror.

"We're with Dumbledore." Sirius whispered. "Get yourself and Worm over here."

.

He slipped it back into his pocket. James spiked his hair, absently. Hermione tried not to stare at either of them, until Dumbledore returned with a steaming goblet.

.

"Drink up." He said, brightly. "I see you are a Gryffindor, as I was myself. We have one bed free in the Gryffindor dormitories. It is, both fortunately and unfortunately with the seventh year, boys. Will you be able to handle that Miss Granger?"

"Sleeping in a boys dormitory?" Hermione asked. "I'll be fine. I lived in a tent with two boys for a year."

"_Two_ boys." James sniggered. "_I like your style, Miss Granger!_"

"The potion will, in five minutes, disguise you as a boy." Dumbledore added. "It is poly-juice potion. Have you heard of it?"

"Yes." Hermione said, looking down at the goblet. "It's going to make me look like a boy?"

"In every way." The headmaster said, eyes twinkling merrily. " A necessity for the time being. Bottom's up, my dear. I have a bottle you'll need to sip from regularly."

"Thank you," Hermione said, aware that her voice had just crept down an octave and that something hideously unpleasant was happening to her body. "…I'm a boy." She stammered, avoiding the three pairs of eyes on her, and keeping her hands lifted away from any part of her body that might be changed too dramatically.

"Yeah, you are." Sirius said, eying her up, thoughtfully.

"So weird." James said. "But 'eh', it's not permanent. It isn't, is it?"

"No. Of course not." Dumbledore assured Hermione, kindly.

.

"Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew." The portrait hanging over the door announced and Dumbledore opened the door with a flourish of his wand.

.

Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were, both, _nothing _like Hermione expected. Remus was taller and broader than she'd expected, and his face was unscarred, although he looked ill, with dark shadowed eyes and a pinched sullen expression. Peter Pettigrew was tiny, as short as she'd been moments before, with silky blond hair and cornflower blue eyes.

.

"You're Peter Pettigrew?" Hermione demanded, in her newly low voice.

"Yes." Peter smiled up at her. "That's me. And this is Remus Lupin."

"You look…" _Nice? _Hermione thought, peering at the pretty blond boy.

"This is Granger." James Potter said. "Long story… _Which I will tell you after,_" he mouthed quietly, as Dumbledore wandered over to them.

"Simply splendid, boys!" Dumbledore said, patting the tall and strapping Remus Lupin on the head. "This is a new dorm mate for you. Please do not delve into his history, nor draw attention to him. He is, if anyone asks, an exchange student from Durmstrang."

"Yes, sir." Both boys said.

"I thought you'd look more rat-like." Hermione said, slightly too loudly. "I mean you were, when I met you…"

.

"Shush." Sirius said, putting a warm hand on her arm and her attention.

"What?" Hermione asked. "Sirius? Dumbledore doesn't know you're…" His hand on her lips cut her off.

"We need to have a private word." He said, never taking lifting his eyes off hers.

"_No, Mr Black, you do not_." Dumbledore assured him, firmly. "Explain yourself please, Granger."

"We need to have a private word." Sirius murmured softly, eyes appealing to her. "_Don't we, Hermione?_"

"_Yes…_?" Hermione agreed. "_We do._"

"_Mr Black_!" Dumbledore complained as Sirius drew her quickly out of the room.

.

"Hermione, listen to me," Sirius said, urgently. "Dumbledore doesn't know we are…"

"Animangi'" Hermione whispered. Sirius nodded.

"Yes." He agreed, softly. He was still holding her hand, which looked big and ugly, and very masculine now. Sirius did not seem to care. He looked _lovely_. "Dumbledore doesn't know about this, in our world." He told her softly. His eyes were impossibly big and silver. He bit his bottom lip, holding it for a moment between his teeth, making her stare at it and blush randomly.

.

"…Hermione?" Sirius said, quietly. "If Dumbledore finds out that I am an animagus, I will get expelled. I will go to Azkaban, _in my world_. Please don't tell him… _Please_?"

"I won't tell him." She assured him. "…It's all a massive shock… My voice sounds so low." Sirius grinned.

"You look like a boy." He whispered, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Come on." And he took her back into the office.

.

"You were saying, Granger?" Dumbledore asked, at once.

"About the big difference between who that 'Tom' is in my world and yours." Hermione said.

"That is _not_ to be discussed." Dumbledore said, firmly. "Under any circumstances. Do you understand me, Granger?"

"Yes, sir." Hermione assured him.

"Very good." Dumbledore smiled. "I apologise profusely for this, but these boys will be your roommates. None of them will question you and they will back up your cover story, and _treat you respectfully. Yes, boys?_"

"Yes, sir." All four Marauders repeated, meekly.

"Very good. Hurry up and get to dinner then," Dumbledore said, smiling benignly. "I ask only that you write down your history for me to study, Granger."

.

They didn't go to dinner in the Great Hall, although Hermione could smell it and she was rather hungry. James escorted her straight up to Harry and Ron's old dormitory. Her fleeting glimpse of the Gryffindor Common room showed it looking remarkably unchanged. Hermione had seen Harry and Ron's dorm a couple of times and it also looked the same. Four-poster beds, red drapes.

.

James unhooked a mirror from the wall and passed it over to her, revealing her poly-juiced boys face. "Does it feel weird?" He asked, grinning.

"Very." Hermione assured him, refusing to look as appalled as she felt. _This is an adventure_, she reminded herself.

.

"Do you fancy yourself?" James suggested.

"I look a lot like my boyfriend." Hermione said, calmly.

"Ron." James said. "How bizzare. So... We need to talk. You'd better tell us everything."

"Like what?" Hermione asked, unsurprised that James had not kept his word to Dumbledore about not discussing it.

"Granger is a girl." Sirius told Remus and Peter. "She's using Poly-juice. She comes from an alternate dimention where the Dark Lord is my father and James's son has killed him, with her help. And they've both been sent back to Hogwarts to finish their N.E.W.T's."

"And you seriously believe that?" Remus clarified. Sirius grinned.

"Hell, yeah!" He said. "That's ace."

"And it is actually true." James said. "Except it's not an alternate dimension. It's the future. She did a time travel spell. Didn't you?"

"Yes." Hermione agreed. "But clearly it didn't work."

"It did." James said.

"Didn't." Sirius pointed out. "I am not the son of the Dark Lord. And all your children are going to be ginger-wingers."

"Harry looks just like James, in my world." Hermione told him. "He's not ginger. But his mother… Do you think it's dangerous to say?"

.

"…You're asking me?" Remus asked, surprised.

"Oh, sorry… I guess I was." Hermione admitted. "You're very sensible and clever in my world. But you're clever too, James."

"Harry's dumb is he?" James asked, amused. "And please tell me you were about to say 'Lily Evans'."

"Yes, I was." Hermione said. "Congratulations?" James laughed.

"Excellent." He said, punching the air. "Lily's my girlfriend and I'd probably get dumped if you'd said anyone else, wouldn't I? So Lupin seriously comes across as smarter than me in the future? That is _madness_."

"It's _not_ the future." Hermione and Sirius both said, simultaneously.

.

James grinned brightly at Sirius. "Mate." He said. "It _is_ the future. Why shouldn't Tom Riddle be the Dark Lord? That's not his real name, is it? She recognised you because _you_ looked like the young Tom Riddle and did you not _see_ how desperate Dumbs was for you not to know."

"My dad can't be Lord Voldemort!" Sirius assured him, horrified. "That is… _Bollocks_." He staggering over to his bed and threw himself onto it.

"I'm pretty sure you're not." Hermione offered. "In my world."

"It's not 'your world' unless you're our future queen!" James exclaimed. "It's the future. I marry Lily and have a son who kills the Dark Lord who happens to be the same 'Tom Riddle' that did the dirty with your mother… Dumbldore _knew_, Pads." He added. "This is why he doesn't trust you."

"In her world Dumbledore knows we're animagi!" Sirius exclaimed. "It's a different world."

"It's the future." James said. "Am I right? He didn't find out till after we'd left school?"

"Yes." Hermione said. "I am sure Sirius isn't… Your parents were Wallberga and Cygnus Black."

"Well _that's_ creepy." Remus said. "Because that's his mum and her brother."

"_Orion_!" Hermione said. "Sorry. Your parents are Wallberga and _Orion_ Black. You had a younger brother called Regulus and cousins, who are Cygnus's daughters, called Bellatrix, Narcissa and Andromeda. Narcissa marries Lucius Malfoy and they have a son called Draco, who is in my year at school."

"…What's he like?" James asked, when Sirius said nothing.

"Horrible." Hermione said. "But your father definitely wasn't Tom Riddle."

"Well, true." James agreed. "But that is what _anyone_ aside from us _would_ say." He pointed out. "Who else knows, Pads? It's hardly something your parents broadcast."

"_I'm not the Dark Lord's son!_" Sirius snarled, getting off the bed again.

"Yeah, you are." James assured him. "That _is_ why Dumb doesn't trust you."  
"No. It's because I'm a Black." Sirius said.

"_As well, maybe_." James said. "I'm sure of it. Granger is from the future."

"And you're a girl?" Remus added, finally. Hermione looked round at him, before she nodded.

"I've taken Poly-juice Potion." She explained. "Dumbledore thought it was for the best. You look… _very different_."

"Well… if it's the future." He shrugged looking away from her. Hermione decided it must be close to the full moon, he had black shadows under his eyes and sallow skin.

.

"How does he look different?" Sirius asked. "I'm dead, Moons." He added. "In the future."

"_You're dead!_?" Remus yelled. Sirius shrugged, trying not to grin at this reaction..

"Yeah." He said. "And I've been in_ Azkaban_, for years. My body is so messed up I'm unrecognisable."

"Because of… _because of what we did_?" Remus groaned. Sirius shrugged again.

"I don't know." He said. "Why do I go to Azkaban, Hermione?"

"I don't know if I should say." Hermione said. "Like Dumbledore said."

"You can tell us." James assured her. "We're very discrete and my son is going to kill Voldemort… Merlin, you have thoroughly bad taste in boys. You like some ginger freak called 'Ron' over my stupendous look-a-like of a son, who _defeated the Dark Lord_."

"He's like a brother to me." Hermione said. "If I tell you… I don't think I can tell you. It's very complicated, what happened between you all."

.

"You can tell us _anything, _Hermione." Peter assured her. "We keep each other's secrets." Hermione stared at him, her mouth falling half-open.

"I… I don't think I can." She stammered.

"Pads," James suggested, "you coax it out of her."

"No. I don't care." Sirius shrugged, lying on his bed and studying the canopy over his head, jaw clenched.

.

Hermione stared at him, beautiful young Sirius; and little blond Peter, earnest and looking so _nice_. And James who looked like Harry; and Remus, who looked surprisingly _adult_. Bigger than when he _was_ an adult, with muscles and hair and broad shoulders… and ill.

.

"Can I… could I tell Remus?" She asked, finally. Sirius lifted his head to study her with his silver eyes for a moment. James scowled.

"Yes. Of course you can." Peter said, at once. "It's your story, Hermione. Do you know Remus in the future?"

"Yes. He was my teacher." Hermione said. "The best teacher I ever had."

"You _see_." Sirius said, pointedly. "That is an _Alternate Universe_."

"Come on then." Remus said, gesturing for her to go ahead of him, into the boys bathroom.

.

He closed the door. Hermione looked at him, wishing he looked a bit more like she'd expected. "…Remus." She began. "It's… Lots of things happen and…"

"Yeah. _Why does Sirius go to Azkaban_?" Remus interrupted her in his low hoarse voice.

"Because…" Hermione said. "Alright…"

.

She took a deep breath. "Because there is a prophecy that James's son will kill Voldemort, James goes into hiding." She said, quickly. "And you think James had made Sirius his Secret Keeper, because they're best friends, Remus. But Sirius told James not to make him the secret keeper because it's what Voldemort will expect. He tells James to make Peter the Secret Keeper. And Peter… Peter… Peter had gone over to Voldemort and he told him. He told Voldemort where Lily and James were, and Voldemort killed them. Everyone thought Sirius was the Secret Keeper, even you. Peter framed him by killing twelve people and pretending to be murdered by Sirius, but really he just turned into a rat, and hid in the sewer. But nobody knew Peter was an animagus so they thought Sirius had blown him up as well. They sent Sirius to Azkaban for twelve years."

.

Remus considered this in silence. Hermione couldn't tell if he believed her or not. Finally he looked up.

.

"_And then Sirius died_?" He whispered, his face blanched a rather frightening bone colour. Hermione nodded.

"Yes… I'm really sorry." She said. "You didn't do anything bad. But I… I don't know what you did do for any of those years. But you thought Peter was innocent and dead, and Sirius had murdered and killed everyone. But then you met Sirius again, in the end, Remus, in the Shrieking Shack in my third year. And you were friends again before he died. You lived together."

.

Remus nodded, numbly.

.

"…_And you swear this is the truth_?" He asked. Hermione nodded.

"I'm afraid so." She said. "I'm so sorry. I don't think I can tell Sirius or James, and obviously not Peter."

"No… No, that's fine." Remus assured her. "Thank you for telling me."

"I'm sorry." Hermione said again. Remus gave her a thin smile, before letting them back into the dormitory.

.

"_Well_?" James asked.

"Tell you some other time." Remus muttered, climbing onto Sirius' bed and pulling Sirius into his arms.

"…This is nice." Sirius said, drily. "It was that bad, was it?"

"_Yeah_." Remus assured him. Sirius pushed him off and sat up, leaning against the bedpost, looking at Remus thoughtfully.

"…So?" He asked. "It was because of what we did, was it."  
"No." Remus said. "No one finds out about that. It's something else."

"Really? I do _that_ _much_ bad stuff, do I?" Sirius asked, settling back onto the bed. "…Get us some food, Prongs." He added. "I need to think."

"Of course." James assured him. "Don't strain your brain cell, Pads. I'll introduce Hermione to the delights of the kitchen. Move it, Worm!"

.

.

.

James lead them down to the kitchen. It was broad day light and there was no invisibility cloak. Other students had finished their dinner and were milling about, but James didn't appear to care.

.

He let them into the kitchen and ordered the elves to lay a table by the fire for them, and prepare a supper to take back to the dormitory, before flinging himself down at the little table.

.

"Right." He said. "Spit it out, Hermione. We want to know everything. Do you understand that it's the future and not an 'alternate universe' ?"

"Yes." Hermione said. "Except about Tom Riddle."

"One of those things." James shrugged. "Even the Dark Lord has to have come from somewhere. So what happens? Trust me, I won't mess with it, unless I am certain it's for the best."

"I don't think I should tell you." Hermione said, honestly. She glanced at Peter who was sitting at James's side, nibbling a pumpkin pasty.

"My best friend gets himself locked up, then dies." James pointed out. "It's hardly the future I was hoping for, but if I can help him, I will. And I'll be careful. The more you can tell me, the more careful I'll be able to be."

"No. I can't tell you." Hermione told him, firmly. James grinned.

"You're feisty, like Lily!" He told her, amused. "I am very into this Muggle feminist thing. It's rather sexy. I don't think much of you being a boy though, can you stop taking that poly-juice, and just tie your hair back. You've got no make-up on and you're hardly, you know…" He grinned, toothily. "A 'girly' type, if you know what I mean. No offense."

.

"_You're a pervert, Prongs_." Peter said. "Don't mind him, Hermione. And don't tell us, if you don't want to. This must all be a massive shock for you. Have a pasty. You must be starving."

"…Thank you." Hermione said, staring at him again. "You look very… nothing… I didn't expect you to look or be like this." She said.

"In a good way or bad way?" Peter asked, with a shy grin. "I have always been this short. It sucks."

"We can't all be splendid." James pointed out, laughing with his mouthful. "It's lucky you're a wizard, Worm. You'll have to bewitch the girls, and I do mean that figuratively."

"Thanks, Prongs." Peter sighed. "So, Hermione. Is there anything we can do? I'm sure you will get back to your time and your family and friends. We'll do everything we can to help."

"Of course we will." James agreed. "But not yet, because this is too interesting. I am going to insist you tell me everything, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Tell me how my splendid son defeat's Voldemort."

"His spell backfires and kills him." Hermione said, with a hint of amusement. "But Harry does all sorts of great things. He's incredibly brave."  
"Doesn't surprise me." James said, smugly. "And poor Pads is dead. We'd better go make sure he's alright."

"He'll be fine." Peter said, at once. "He'll want a minute. You know what he's like."

"What is he like?" Hermione asked.

"Splendid!" James said. "A first rate chap! Fearless… funny. I'm sure we'll find a way to stop him dying."

"I would like it, if you could." Hermione assured him. "He's… He's not the same afterwards."

"Poor old Pads." James chuckled. "We'll sort it. I'm excellent at sorting things out. And you're showing up is a right blessing."

.

.

.

Sirius, thankfully, was asleep when they returned to the dorm. It was still daylight outside, but the curtains were closed around his bed, and Remus, who sat on the floor to eat with them, told them to leave him be, rather fiercely.

.

They ate mostly in silence. James demanding information occasionally and congratulating her on her 'adorable feminisim', in an impressively patronising way. Remus was completely silent, eating hungrily with his fingers. And Little Peter laughed at James's jokes, rolled his eyes at Hermione occasionally and really did come across as very nice. If it was an alternate universe, Hermione was sure Peter was going to be one of the big differences. Trouble was, she didn't think it was an alternate universe, at all.

.

Unable to bring herself to expose her male body, Hermione took the bed James directed her to, and went to sleep in her robes. She woke sometime in the depths of the night to discover the poly-juice had worn off.

.

The dormitory, lit by a half moon, appeared to be entirely empty aside from herself and James. James, who was uncovered and deeply asleep; naked apart from some impressively seventies underwear. His covers pooled on the floor at the bedside.

.

Hermione retreated to her own bed, briefly rather amused. For a while she sat, tucked up on her pillows, chin on her knees, thinking about everything that had happened. The whole castle seemed silent, and it was very strange to thing the First Wizarding War was raging outside the windows. That somewhere out there her parents were young and entirely Muggle, probably having just met as freshly qualified dentists. Him in a tank top and her in orange flares and false eyelashes, like the photo on her mum's nightstand.

.

After a little while the silence got too much to bare and she crept over to Sirius's bed, cautiously moving the velvet drape and peeping inside.

.

She started backwards in surprise, as Remus, and not Sirius, immediately swung upright, finger on his lips, as he slipped past the curtain, rising to his full height, which seemed even taller now she'd returned to her normal size.

.

"I thought that was Sirius's bed." Hermione hissed at him, trying to sound calm.

"It's not. It's mine." Remus whispered, rather hoarsely. Hermione nodded, trying not to stare at his surprisingly _hairy_ chest and smooth muscular arms.

.

Although not in the same comedy league as James orange and avocado Y-fronts, all their clothes looked very dated. Remus was wearing a faded vest and pyjama bottoms, but Hermione was more disturbed by his chest hair and his impressive sideburns. He looked _so_ 'Werewolfy' that Hermione glanced behind her at the window, where the moon shone reassuringly half full. Remus narrowed _golden_ eyes, considering this. Hermione's eyes caught on the thick white scar tissue, puckering and deforming the flesh on his exposed shoulder.

.

"I know." Hermione told him. "What you are, I mean. And I'm fine with it."

"…Right." Remus said. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, definitely." Hermione said, without hesitation. "I know about the Shrieking Shack and the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow."

"And you're going to be alright with it?" Remus asked, doubtfully.

"Definitely." Hermione said again, flashing him a firm smile. "I think you're a very brave man. You were, when I knew you, as well."

"Well… Thank you." He said, in his low hoarse voice. "…This is what you really look like, is it?" .

Hermione nodded. "Yes. I'd better try to get some sleep." She added.

"You can get changed in the bathroom. If you want." He offered. "I'll make sure no one comes in."

"I haven't got anything to change into." Hermione pointed out. "But thank you, Remus."

"Thank you." Remus said, quietly. "I hope you can sleep."

.

And he slipped back through his curtains and Hermione went back to the bed by the window, curling up under the covers.

.

"You know about Remus's furry problem!?" James demanded, making her eyes fly open. Hermione stared at them all, confused. James beamed at her. Peter brandished a pile of clothes. Remus was still wandering round in his vest, bleary-eyed and still looking shockingly more manly than the other three boys.

.

"Where's Sirius?" Hermione asked, seeing the forth bed was still empty and neatly made.

"The Princess is still sleeping." James said with a laugh, gesturing the still curtained bed. _Remus'_ still curtained bed? Or Sirius'? Hermione turned, catching Remus' eyes on her for a moment before he vanished into the bathroom.

.

"Gents!" James exploded, slamming the bathroom door with a swish of his wand. "We have a lady present!"

"Would it be really rude to try and make you look like a boy?" Peter asked, blushing terribly, over his armful of clothes. "Poly-juice is so awful. It's always me that ends up having to have it."

"I think you'll make a splendid boy just as you are!" James said brightly. "If you don't mind me saying so, I am sure you can pull it off. We often used to dress up as girls. That was so hilarious. But then I got far too manly, and Moony got too hairy and… Oh, I don't know; the mouse and the princess could probably still pass themselves off perfectly convincingly."

"You don't look like a girl." Hermione said to little Peter, who looked _so_ mortified.

.

_How was this sweet little lamb in any way going to turn into James and Lily's traitor, Cedric's murderer, the weird pathetic little man in the Shrieking Shack, the resurrector of Voldemort?_

.

Peter giggled and Hermione added, "Or Sirius," as she realised why he was laughing. "Sirius obviously doesn't look like a girl either."

.

"So these are Peter's clothes." James told her. "Which we think will fit you just splendidly. You're not exactly curvy and these are very boyish, and a bit gross, I'm afraid. Peter's taste is pretty bad! Here you go!"

"Here is some soap." Remus said, still all soft and hoarse. "And a flannel. You can get changed in the bathroom. I'll lock the door."

"Here, have mine!" James said quickly, going back to his trunk.

"Thanks, but this is fine." Hermione assured him, taking Remus's, at once.

"It's Sirius'." Remus said in his husky voice. "And freshly laundered by the House Elves."

"I don't mind in the slightest who they belong to." Hermione assured him. "It's very nice of you all."

"If you're sure." James chucked his own back in his trunk and winked at her. Hermione locked herself in the bathroom, washed and redressed as a short 70's style boy. She tied her wet brown hair into a low bushy ponytail and shuffled back into the dorm.

.

"Yeah; you don't look like a boy." Remus concluded.

"You look like a foxy cross-dresser!" James crowed in delight. "You look better like this than you did as a girl!"

"Thanks?" Hermione said, not sure if she wanted to laugh or hex him. Either way it felt better than when she'd been sitting in the bathroom, trying not to cry for Ron, Harry, her family, and a whole lost world.

.

"Get sleeping beauty up." James ordered Remus; slapped Peter round the head and shoved him out the door. "Coming, darling?" He asked, offering Hermione his hand and wriggling his eyebrows at her.

"You had better pretend I'm a boy." Hermione reminded him, wondering how she had possibly managed to confuse him with Harry for so long.

"I know. And it's so naughty, because we know you're a girl under there." James giggled, grinning toothily as he bounced down the stairs, through the Common Room and to the Great Hall.

.

Hermione and Peter both had to run to keep up with him. James was manic. ADHA, Hermione was pretty certain, watching him bounce down the Gryffindor table, positively buzzing with energy, and being hysterically annoying. Across the hall she spotted Snape, looking young and somehow innocent, but she turned her back on him and let James seat her between himself and Peter, filling her plate, unasked, with vast amounts of food. "You should eat more." He told her. "Especially pasta. I have heard pasta is very good for girls, _if you know what I mean!_" Hermione caught Peter's desperate attempt not to laugh, and started to giggle, herself.

"I have no idea what you mean, James." She assured him. "Can you explain?" James quirked an eyebrow, leant round Peter to check her expression, and then shook his head, blushing.

"Not sure." He muttered, and started eating his vast plateful of food, very fast.

.

Sirius and Remus arrived together, as they were finishing. Hermione was still utterly gobsmacked by Remus's physique. All the other boys looked like seventeen year old boys, either skinny or just normal, but Remus was actually noticeably muscular, and he looked at least twenty. They were both wearing flares. Almost every student on the Gryffindor table was. Remus was also wearing a green and brown tank-top and Sirius a half fastened shirt. They both looked so impressively 'seventies' that Hermione found herself trying not to laugh again.

.

"Good morning." Sirius said, winking at her as he flung himself onto the bench opposite. "Looking like a rather unconvincing boy there, Messr Granger."

"Enough like a boy?" Hermione asked, uneasily.

"More like a boy than Peter." Sirius said, with a charming smile. "And I suspect you're also smart enough to realise that that _isn't_ an insult… To you."

"Thanks, Padfoot." Peter said, with a forced grin. "You're _hilarious_."

"Why yes, yes, I am." Sirius laughed. "Looking forward to Hogsmeade, Messr Granger?"

"Oh yes, I guess." Hermione had gathered it was the weekend. "You're clothes are brilliant, by the way." Sirius glanced down at the shirt that vaguely covered his slim flawless chest.

"Thanks." He said, with a laugh. "We are showing our support for the Muggles." He gestured behind him to the Slytherin table which, to a student, was dressed in Wizarding robes that looked completely undated. Hermione realised she was looking, almost certainly, at Regulus Black. He had dark brown hair and wasn't as pretty as Sirius, but she recognised him from his Quidditch photo, and by the fact that he had clearly noticed his brother, gesturing her attention to his table.

.

"There's something I have to tell you about your brother." She said, snatching Sirius's arm.

"I don't have a brother." Sirius said, with a shrug. "…Only Prongs, anyway." He added, reaching across the table to hit James's arm, affectionately.

"I want to tell you something good about him." Hermione said. "Please?"

"I'm dead anyway." Sirius shrugged. "Why not, yes?" He glanced at Remus who nodded. Sirius took his mug and followed her out to the Entrance Hall.

.

"Right." Hermione said, feeling a little awkward in her boy clothes, although the low ponytail was very practical. "Do you know that Regulus has been a bit brainwashed by your family and Voldemort?"

"He is my family." Sirius pointed out. "And apparently Voldemort is my father."

"I'm certain he's not." Hermione said. "I did bang my head when I flew across the library. But Regulus becomes a Deatheater. Is, already, I think."

"Yeah, he is." Sirius said. "Half those Slytherin bastards are. They like to get them young." Hermione nodded, not sure what to say to that.

"Well, he is very young." She pointed out.

"He's our age!" Sirius snapped, angrily. "He's no brother of mine!"

.

"Voldemort tries to kill Kreacher and Regulus is so upset that he steals a necklace with part of Voldemorts soul in." She said, quickly. "He sacrifices his own life to help bring down Voldemort. No one knows, not till years later. You… You never found out. Which is why I'm telling you now. He carried on loving you and he tried to make up for his mistakes. He died at seventeen."

"Next year?" Sirius stammered. Hermione nodded.

"I'm sorry." She said. "But... He wasn't bad."

"Right." Sirius said, staring back at the hall. "Alright. I'll talk to him. Thank you."

.

They could already hear James making his way out of the Great Hall and waited. "You didn't get any food." Hermione said.

"Not very hungry now." Sirius pointed out. "I'm going to tell Lupin."

"Messr Granger knows about Messr Moony's furry problem." James informed him, indiscreetly. "You don't need to be so formal, Messr Padfoot." But Sirius ignored him, falling in against Remus's side and whispering in his ear, as they made their way back up to the Common Room.

.

"This!" James exclaimed, catching Hermione's arm and launching her through the Portrait Hole, "…is my future wife! The most lovely Miss Lily Evans!"

.

Lily laughed. Like the Marauders she looked _in no way_ how Hermione had expected. She did have Harry's emerald green eyes, and she did have red hair, but much darker red than Ginny's. It was brushed very long and straight, and she had a vast amount of make up on, false eyelashes, green eye shadow, blanched out lips, acne, and loads of very pale foundation. Clearly she had not been at breakfast, because this make-up had taken so long to put on. She was also wearing what appeared to be a very floral, long sleeved, high necked, floor-length, nightie. Waiting with her was the pretty blond girl that Hermione recognised as having been in the library when she'd first met James and Sirius. She was wearing skin-tight white bellbottoms and flashing an awful lot of impressive cleavage, and even more eye-make up than Lily.

.

"Hello?" Lily said, doubtfully. Her attention moving quite rapidly from Hermione's make-up less face to the fact that James was clearly holding her hand. Hermione snapped her hand away.

"I've come from Durmstrang." She said, trying not to sound too girly.

"That's the girl I told you about in the library, Lily." The blond girl said, meaningfully, wrinkling her pretty nose.

"She is not a girl!" James cried, at once. "He is a boy. Mearly a young one. But they have put him in with us because he is so gifted and a boy!"

"Really?" Lily asked, in alarm. "_You're_ sleeping in the boys dorm? With James!?"

"Because she is a boy!" James cried. "How offensive you are being to suggest otherwise! Hush up your pretty mouth, Lily my love!"

"Because 'he' is a boy, surely?" Lily's blond friend pointed out. "Marlene." She added, offering Hermione her hand. "_Sirius's girlfriend_."

"Yeah, not so much anymore." Sirius informed her, with a less than apologetic grin. "I am under strict orders to look after Messr Granger, during _his_ time with us."

"Yeah, you kissed her, Sirius." Lily snapped, sharply. "Marlene told me. Or 'him, if you swing that way."

"Oh, indeed, I did." Sirius laughed. "But that does not make him a girl! I was merely greeting Messr Granger in a boyish 'welcome to Hogwarts' manner. I am nothing, if not welcoming. Now I shall take my new friend, who is a boy, to Hogwarts…_ Unlucky, Marlene_!" And he waved her away, trying not to giggle like a naughty child, as he dragged Hermione back through the Portrait Hole.

.

The walk to Hogwarts was bizarre. Lily and James lagged behind, having a very angry and incredibly indiscreet 'whisper-row' about Sirius' dumping of Lily's best friend, while Sirius, with relentless enthusiasm chattered to Hermione, telling her hilarious story's about mortified students walking near to them, and flirting in the most outrageous way imaginable.

.

Hermione staggered into Hogsmeade, on his arm, red cheeked, a hand covering her eyes, pretty certain she was going to die from multiple hexes the minute she was alone.

.

Hogsmeade was the same. Lots of the students were wearing seventies fashion and there were different sweets in Honeydukes, and undoubtedly different books in the bookshop Hermione loved. But The Marauders went straight to the Three Broomsticks, where they drank Firewhiskey, smuggled over to the table by an utterly gorgeous young Rosemetra, who seemed rather disappointed to find Sirius permenantly fixed to Hermione's side.

.

Lily glared at her across the table, sipping firewhiskey, while James tried to explain to her how silly she was, and how utterly sweet she looked when she was sulking.

.

Remus and Peter absented themselves briefly to buy a list of supplies for James and Sirius. Hopefully for themselves as well. "Go and buy Lily and Granger some chocolate roses." James said, the minute they sat down to have a drink themselves. "And sugar kisses, Worm."

"I thought 'Granger' was a boy!" Lily reminded him, flashing another glare across the table. "Which you clearly aren't." She added. James gave her a hard look, to which Lily just shrugged, and looked away, watching the other students and getting quietly drunk. James sat happily beside her, staring at her chest.

.

Marlene showed up when Hermione was herself feeling far from sober. She had only been taking tiny sips because it was hot and she was very thirsty, having gone all night without a drink, and only getting a few mouthfuls of tea at breakfast.

.

Marlene positioned herself by the bar, so she could glare at Hermione while she sipped her drink, her wand resting in her free hand, purposefully. Sirius noticed as well, and laughed. There was a hint of bark in it, just as Hermione remembered from back in her time. Before he'd fallen through the veil.

.

"Why don't you go and talk to her?" Hermione suggested, finally. "She must have spent a long time getting ready to go out with you, Sirius."

"It would be rude." Sirius dismissed it. "I came with you."

"But I'm a boy." Hermione pointed out. "Like Remus and Peter." She gestured to them, coming back through the crowded pub again, from their last errand. "If you don't want to be with her, please don't make out it's because of me."

"Marlene has got a mean hex on her." James pointed out. "It is rather ungentlemanly, Padfoot."

"I take that as a great complement." Sirius pointed out. "I am not a gentleman. I am a Marauder and a dog! _Marlene_!" He yelled. "_Come here_!"

.

"What do you want, Black?" Marlene asked, slinking over to the table and scowling at him.

"Sit down and stop sulking." Sirius told her. "You'll give yourself wrinkles."

"Eat me, Black." Marlene snapped, sitting next to him and reaching across to grope his thigh and take a lighter from his tight jeans pocket. She lit a cigarette, gazing at him, meaningfully. Hermione tried really hard not to grimace at the smell. Lots of people were smoking and her eyes were already stinging.

.

Sirius sat silently between Marlene and Hermione, finishing his drink. Marlene slid her hand over his thigh to return his lighter, but he did not look in anyway impressed. He kicked at Remus's feet under the table; like a bored child, Hermione thought. She wanted to talk to him properly, but didn't feel she could without revealing too much of the future. She was already quite worried that Sirius talking to Regulus might stop him ever stealing Voldemort's horcrux and change the future in a bad way.

.

"You look utterly bored, Sirius." She said, finally.

"No, this is _splendid_ _fun_." Sirius said, unconvincingly. Across the table a rather tipsy James and Lily had started to kiss. Remus, who was sitting next to them, ignored it. He ignored Sirius kicking him harder under the table, sipping his drink, as well. Hermione tried to stop sipping at hers.

.

"Why don't us single boys go do some boy stuff." Hermione said, in a burst of inspiration. "And you and Marlene can have a talk, Sirius. I feel like we're cramping your style."

"Yeah, make up, Padfoot, mate." James ordered, caught his breath and shoved his tongue back into Lily's mouth.

.

"I want to do stuff with the boys." Sirius said, scowling like a spoilt child. "You're dumped, Marlene. I don't know how many times I have to tell you. Piss off."

"Padfoot!" James shouted at him. "Sit the hell down!" Sirius had barely started to get up. He glared at James, who ignored him and carried on kissing. Marlene stubbed her cigarette out, ignoring them entirely. She took a mouthful of Sirius's firewhiskey and waited.

.

"Got stuff to do." He said, getting up impressively quickly and bolting through the crowd to the door.

.

He was laughing when he reached the end of the street, hiding round the corner of a building, flushed and breathless. "I am bored out of my mind!" He complained, snatching Remus and shoving him as he reached them.

"I have things to do with Peter." Remus told him, ignoring it. "Here's your chocolates." Which he thrust at Sirius, before marching Peter off up the street.

.

Sirius tried reasonably hard not to sigh. Hermione, despite the fact that Sirius was not actually very likeable, slightly hated that he was this bored and disappointed to be with her.

"Go with your friends, if you want." She suggested. "I'd quite like to look around, on my own." Sirius looked at her, considering this thoughtfully, the intensity of his gaze reminding her just how lovely, on a superficial level, he was.

"I don't want." He said, firmly. "You're a girl from the future. It's amazing. Have they got settlements on the moon yet?"

"No." Hermione said. "But they've got amazing phones." Sirius tried hard to look impressed, and laughed.

"They sound 'exciting'?" He said. "Actually I am very interested in all things Muggle. Your family are actual Muggles. How amazing is that?"

"I've seen your house." Hermione said. "In London."

"It's tiny, isn't it!?" Sirius laughed. "My father has put an insane amount of spells on it, to make it unplottable, unbreachable. He has issues. Show me yours and I'll show you mine, okay?"  
"My what?" Hermione stammered. Sirius grinned at her.

"Your Muggle world." He said. "Give me your hand."

.

With a pop they apparated into a London street. "It's the seventies." Hermione said. "Oh my God, look at the cars!"

"Cars are cool." Sirius said, going at once to the nearest one. "And bikes. I love Muggle bikes."

"Do you have one?" Hermione asked, trying not to grin at his enthusiasm.

"No." Sirius laughed. "One day."

"Yes, one day." Hermione assured him. "You have a motorbike that you enchant to fly."

"I like them on the ground." Sirius said, swinging round when he realised what she'd said. "You mean it?" He asked, eyes sparkling. "I get a flying motorbike?" Hermione nodded, watching him yell in delight.

"So brilliant!" He laughed. "Let's get one, and ride it…" He paused, scanning the street before loping off, to find a motorbike.

.

"I hope you're not going to steal it." Hermione said, firmly.

"God no!" Sirius exclaimed. "I am mearly borrowing it. Hop on, love, and hold on tight. And I do mean tight…"

.

Hermione screamed, clinging onto him for dear life, as Sirius, with apparently no sense of fear, sent the bike flying away down street after street, at entirely un-natural speeds.

.

"This is mine!" Sirius said brightly. Skidding to a stop outside Twelve Grimmauld Place. "Don't speak. My mother isn't a fan of Muggle borns."

"You're not going inside are you!?" Hermione exclaimed in alarm.

"Definitely." Sirius laughed. "Come on, love. Try to look a bit more like a boy."

.

He ran up the steps and banged on the door. It was opened by Kreacher, who peered up at Sirius, suspiciously, before gesturing him into the hallway. Hermione made sure her wand was in easy reach, and followed him.

.

Grimmauld Place was spotless and opulent. The screaming picture of Mrs Black was absent. Music was playing softly in one of the rooms. The arthritic house-elf lead them up to the drawing room, where the vast family tree covered an entire wall, and a row of polished windows let in bright sunlight.

.

"I heard she'd done that." Sirius whispered, nudging her attention to the family tree, where his name was burnt off, next to Regulus's. Before Hermione could take in anything else Mrs Black appeared in the room. She was rather young looking and handsome, with dark curls and heavy lidded eyes. She looked a lot like Bellatrix and Andromeda.

.

"Sirius." She said, icily. "What brings you here?"

"Many things, mother." Sirius said. "This is a rather frosty welcome. It's been, what, two years?"

"Seventeen months and a week, Sirius." Mrs Black said, watching him intently. "A mother keeps count, Sirius."

"So you do still consider yourself my mother. Interesting." Sirius said, flashing her a slightly tentative smile, which Mrs Black did not return.

"One cannot deny the facts of blood, Sirius." She pointed out.

"True." Sirius agreed. "I was admiring your handiwork." He gestured to the burn mark on the family tree."

"Blood is blood, Sirius." She shrugged. "It is not as easily burnt away as silk."

"I wasn't looking at that." Sirius said, mildly. "I meant the scowling turned faces you embroidered for yourself and your husband's marriage."

"Who is this girl, Sirius?" Mrs Black snapped. "That you speak of such things in front of her."

"She's from Durmstrang. One of Karkaroff's cousins, mother. She doesn't speak English."

"But she knows who we are?" Mrs Black asked, curiously.

"Of course, Mother." Sirius said, still peering at his parents, who were indeed embroidered at the date of their marriage, scowling in opposite directions. "Everyone knows the house of Black."

"And why have you brought her here?" She asked, watching Sirius carefully.

"Because she is pregnant." He said, lightly. "And so I was thinking I might have to marry her. I thought you might actually be pleased. Wouldn't want another bastard in the family."

"She understands no English?" Mrs Black asked him, sharply.

"I just said." Sirius reminded her. "I don't need to even speak the same language to bed women, mother."

"It's hardly the match I'd have chosen for you." Mrs Black said, sounding suddenly rather uncertain. "Sirius." She added, more firmly. "You bring a girl to this house, you wish to marry? An heir, of this house, already… there." She said, gesturing quickly to Hermione's stomach.

"I did try to get rid of it." Sirius said, smiling sweetly at Hermione. "But…" He shrugged.

"And she is pureblood?" Mrs Black said, sounding suddenly excited. "Sirius! She is a cousin of Karkarofs?" Sirius didn't say anything; realising, Hermione thought, that he had not thought this through, at all.

"Yes, that's right. As if I would have brought a dirty 'Mudblood' into your fancy parlour, Mother." He added, with a smirk. "Anyway, I came to talk to you about my father."

"He won't be back till six." She reminded him. "Are you going to tell him?"

"You can." Sirius said. "I have to be back at school. I wanted to talk to you about Tom Riddle." Hermione kept her eyes firmly fixed on Sirius. "That's alright, isn't it?"

.

"You're sure she understands no English, Sirius?" Mrs Black asked, again.

"I just told you I tried to abort her child, mother. She doesn't understand a word. You said he was a half-blood, Muggle-raised. A nobody."

"I told you the truth. I always tell you the truth. Sirius. It's you, who can't stomach it."

"And where is he now?" Sirius asked, trying to keep his voice neutral of the emotions threatening to thicken it.

"Oh, Sirius." His mother exclaimed, abruptly. "How do you know this?"

"Dumbledore knows." Sirius said. "How could you not tell me who my bloody father is?!"

"But I _did_ tell you, Sirius." She pointed out. "I told you everything. You wanted to know why your father loved Regulus better than you, why Regulus was his favourite. Why Regulus had to be his heir. You were so smug, flaunting your Gryffindor robes and these silly Muggle clothes in front of us, a silly arrogant child, Sirius. Tom wasn't even in Gryffindor. He was in Slytherin, with me."

.

"_You're seriously telling me that my father is Lord Voldemort_!?" Sirius screeched, exploding a table of china, as his wand appeared in his hand.

.

"Oh, do grow up, Sirius!" Mrs Black snapped. "This girl is pregnant with your child! Give me that wand!" Sirius laughed, his hard barking laugh.

"_How could you not have told me_!?" He snarled.

"I told you the truth, _at the time_." Mrs Black defended, crossly. "He's been abroad for years. And I would have told you more, if you'd wanted to listen, when it became relevant."

"And also…" Sirius interrupted her. "You're telling me that Voldemort is a _Muggle-raised half-blood_?!" Mrs Black laughed, a burst of genuine amusement.

"You can not choose your blood, Sirius." She assured him. "He is the direct heir of the house of Slytherin. You, Sirius, are the direct heir of the house of Slytherin."

"_That is a shitty pissing arse of a lie_!" Sirius howled. His mother laughed harder.

"No, it's the truth!" She screeched. "Gryyfindor, Siirus?! How I laughed!"

"Laugh at this!" Sirius snarled, lips drawn back in an ugly spasm as he launched a violent spell across the room.

.

Mrs Black bounced it into the window, which shattered, letting in a sudden burst of city noise. "The mother of your unborn child, Sirius!" She scolded him again. "Poor girl! I wouldn't wish you on a Muggle whore. Now, put your wand away and lower your voice. You can bring her back, Sirius, when I've spoken to your father. I will find someone who can translate for her, and we will arrange your marriage."

"Do what you want." Sirius growled, glaring at her. Mrs Black smiled at him.

"I have missed you, Sirius." She said, abruptly. "In a way only a mother can. Despite it all, have you not missed me at all, in the way a son loves his mother no matter how much he hates her?"

.

"…I don't hate you." Sirius said, his voice low and shaken. Mrs Black stared at him, her face frighteningly young and human. Turning, she lifted her wand and sent snakes of coloured thread eating into the tapestry on the wall, redrawing Sirius's face next to his brother. "…There." She concluded, turning back to him. "Better?" Sirius didn't say anything. He took Hermione's arm and pulled her out of the house and down the steps.

.

There was glass on the pavement, from the exploded window. "Need to go back to school." Sirius mumbled, climbing onto the bike and staring fixedly ahead of him, as he waited for her to climb on behind him.

.

Pedal flat to the floor he shot the bike into the street and disapparated, landing on the road back to Hogsmead, hurtling past startled students, returning to the school on foot.

.

"Here." He emptied his pockets of the Honeydukes sweets, thrusting them at her in the Common Room. "You have these." He told her, pushing them and her away and stumbling up to the dormitory.

"Pads, my good man, are you alright?" James asked, sitting on the sofa, with Lily plonked on his lap.

"No." Sirius growled. "I need to think. I want to be on my own." And he forced his way past Marlene and a couple of boys and up the boys dormitory staircase, throwing Peter forcefully from the room a moment later.

.

Peter scurried down, rubbing at his banged arm. "What's up with Pads?" He asked, anxiously.

"He's a drunken lout." James shrugged. "And rubbish with girls."

"You only have yourself to blame." Marlene informed Hermione, pointedly. "And you do look like a boy."

"Well, clearly I don't." Hermione pointed out. "And I actually have a boyfriend of my own."

"Just getting in to the Muggle free-love vibe in the library, were you?" Marlene asked, tapping her wand on her knees, in a way which Hermione was sure was meant to be threatening.

.

"So I heard you were gifted." Peter interrupted suddenly. "Do you know that Episky?" He asked, pushing up his sleeve, to reveal dark finger marks that were clearly going to bruise.

"Yes… I can." Hermione said, following as Peter headed back to the staircase.

.

"Thank you." He said, settling on the steps, outside the dorm.

"Thank you." Hermione said, looking down at him, looking even smaller, tucked up on the top step.

"Marlene's only angry with Sirius." Peter assured her. "He does that to her a lot."

"Does he do that to you a lot?" Hermione asked, carefully pulling back his sleeve, where she could actually see what were clearly many more fingerprint shaped bruises, higher up on the little boys arm, in an identical pattern to the red marks Sirius had just left, throwing him out of the dorm.

.

"Nope." Peter said, quickly, glancing up at Hermione with his clear blue eyes. "…Sirius has a temper." He added, with an embarrassed flush. "And a lot to be angry about. Things there's nothing he can do about."

"You're half his size." Hermione pointed out. The little blond boy shrugged. He could definitely pass for years younger than he was.

"I'm half everyone's size." He pointed out, with an embarrassed smile.

.

Hermione healed all the wounds with careful spells. "You're really good." Peter assured her, looking at his arm in surprise. "…And nice. I hope more people are like you in the future." Hermione stared at him for a long time. Finally she sat down next to him on the step.

.

"Peter." She said, gently. "If this is the past, and not an alternate dimensions, you actually do some bad stuff in the future." Peter gazed up at her, miserably, and sighed.

"I thought I might." He muttered. "The way you looked at me when you first saw me. I'm really sorry and I don't know why I would. I don't feel like a bad person. I guess my friends are right; I am just pathetic... It's a bit awful, thinking you turn out to do something bad. Do you think I can change it?"

"Yes." Hermione said. "I just watched Sirius change something, so it's going to look different in the future. Peter, I think you can change what you do and… And it's so bad that if I didn't believe that, I think… I think I might have to kill you."

.

Peter put his small face into his hand, shoulders hunched, trying very hard not to cry. "I'm sorry." He whispered, finally, wiping his face, hard. "I don't want to do anything bad. I won't… I promise. I'm just so bloody pathetic. I know I am."

"You're not." Hermione said. "I mean… Pathetic isn't an actual thing, it's a perception, so you are choosing to see yourself as pathetic."

"No, I am ." Peter said, desperately. "Ask Lupin, he's my best friend. Ask Potter or Black."

"No." Hermione said, firmly. "The boy that's put a dozen bruises up your arm, throwing you out of various rooms?" Hermione asked. "No. I am pretty sure I don't trust his opinion on who's pathetic, and neither should you." Peter stared at her.

"You're really nice." He said. "But… They're my friends. They look out for me."

"Actually Peter." Hermione said. "_I_ am your friend. I am going to be your friend and you are going to see that you are not pathetic and it is not okay to be chucked out of your own dorm, no matter how upset Sirius is. He is upset, but I'm sure he can't be this upset on a daily basis. Come on, we'll have this chat in the comfort of the dorm."

"No!" Peter yelled, jumping up in alarm. "No! Please don't! _Don't!_" He yelled, in fright, putting himself in front of the door. "Let him calm down. He'll be alright when he's calmed down."

"But it's not fair that he can just throw you out of your own room, whenever he wants to be alone." Hermione assured him.

"He's not alone. Lupin's talking to him." Peter assured her. "He'll calm him down, and he'll be alright. I could show you secret passages, or take you to the kitchens."

"I want to go and talk to Sirius." Hermione informed him. "I've faced Voldemort and Bellatrix. He doesn't scare me in the slightest, and he definitely shouldn't scare you."  
"They don't scare me. They're my friends." Peter assure her. "Please… I could show you something interesting, I'm sure."

"Alright. Thanks." Hermione said. Peter grinned at her, taking her back through the Common Room and proceeding to show her mostly the secret passages marked on the Marauders Map, although he also knew a brilliant slide, that instead of sliding downwards, whizzed you upwards, round and round, and deposited you outside the divination class, saving you a massive trek, if you took that class. They slid back down, laughing. Bizzarely, Peter was clearly the nicest of the Marauders. He did look a lot younger than Hermione and his friends, but he wasn't fat or ugly. He had a sweet face and Milky-bar Kid blond hair, and he giggled at almost everything she said.

.

They sat, eventually, in the room of requirements, which interestingly had taken on an unrecognisable but interesting design, not dis-similar to a small Gryffindor Common room. Peter produced a bar of chocolate, breaking it up and passing it across to her.

.

"I feel exceptionally shy." He said, finally, with a nervous giggle. "I never talk to girls."

"I've never really talked to many boys apart from Harry and Ron." Hermione told him. "Everyone thought I was a bit of a geek, until I helped Harry bring down Voldemort. And now… Now they don't know how to treat me. Not like I'm normal."

"Ron is your boyfriend, right?" Peter asked. "He must be devastated. Potter and Black might be able to help you get back. There isn't much they can't do, between them."

"And you and Remus." Hermione pointed out. "You're all The Marauders."

"Like on the map? You know about that as well, do you? It's so weird. You knowing so much about us. About Lupin." He added, a little glance across to check this was accurate.

"I'm fine with that." Hermione said, at once. "Were you, when you found out?"

"Yeah." Peter shrugged. "Lupin's been my best friend since first year." He told her, little hands folded in his lap. "So he confided in me first. He used to hurt himself really badly. He was always ill and battered and missing school. He was skinny and…" He laughed, sweeping a nervous hand through his fluffy blond hair. "Not nearly as fierce as he is these days."

"He was slim when I knew him." Hermione told him. "He's teaches here, for a little while."

"That is actually brilliant." Peter said, completely genuinely. "There doesn't seem to be any future for those with that problem, at the moment, but he'd make an excellent teacher. He explains things for me, when I can't grasp them, and I'm pretty rubbish at spells and everything really…" He grinned at her expression. "It's true." He assured her. "Ask my mates."

"They're the ones being rubbish if they're making you feel like this." Hermione assured him. "You have to start liking yourself, Peter. You really do. It's _really _important."

"I understand. I do promise I won't let you down… No one's ever had any faith in me before. I won't do… whatever the awful thing is. I swear it. I will change. Look…" He got up, opening the door and using his wand he cut into the wall, carving her name into the solid stone. 'Hermione'. He gave a nervous sigh, and tucked his wand away again. "There," He said. "I bet that was never there when you came to Hogwarts in the future, was it? Things can be changed. I can do it, I swear."

"And I'm going to help you." Hermione assured him. "I actually… You actually come across as the nicest Marauder, Peter. I think we need to call a group meeting."

.

"Please don't bother Sirius!" Peter begged, hovering outside the dorm. "Ask Potter what he thinks."

"Alright." Hermione said, marching back down the boys staircase.

.

"James!" She said, ignoring the scowling girl perched on his lap. "We need to talk. About the future."

"You do realise that's my boyfriend you're talking to, don't you?" Lily exploded.

"She's already got off with mine." Marlene pointed out.

"Who hasn't." Someone else pointed out, causing a ripple of laughter. James removed Lily, kissing her protesting mouth, and bounced up the stairs.

.

Like Peter he paused outside the closed dormitory door, hesitating before he knocked, sharply. "Padfoot, my good man!" He yelled. "Pull yourself together, mate! We are having a meeting about 'the future'!"

"Piss off!" Sirius's snarl came back through the thick wood immediately. "I want to be on my own!"

"Now Padfoot, my spoilt brat of a best mate!" James called through the door, laughing. "Stop being such a sullen child. This could be of the up most importance, although I doubt it, as it's Peter related!"

"No!" Sirius roared, furiously through the door.

"Now I shall count to three and a half," James called through, clearly finding this hilarious. "One, Padfoot! Two, Padfoot! …And now I'm bored." He concluded. "_Coloportus_!" He swung the door open.

.

"Get out!" Sirius roared at him, sending a hex bouncing into the corridor, and then, rather less alarmingly, a pillow. James levitated the pillow into the air and launched it back at him.

.

"_Expelliamus_!" Hermione cried, infuriated that again Sirius cast the spell faster, and her own wand was ripped out of her hand. This actually amused Sirius a lot, and he settled back on his bed, holding both wands and scowling as James escorted her into the room.

.

Hermione went to her own bed and sat on it, looking at them thoughtfully. Desperately nervous little Peter, holding his own hands and hovering in the doorway. James, who had randomly decided to stand on his own bed, wand ready to intervene if there were any more fireworks. Sirius, topless, in his messy bed, looking like an incredibly petulant male model. And Remus, who was leaning against the wall, reading a book, or pretending to.

.

"This had better be good." Sirius growled.

"Don't be a brat, Padfoot!" James laughed. "Listen to the lady. She wants to talk to us about the future."

"Why would I want to know about the future?" Sirius snapped, pouting. "I die. I go to Azkaban and then I die."

"It's not about you." Hermione said. "Particularily, anyway. It's about Peter."

.

They all turned to look at him. Peter stared back, more mouse than rat. "…I do something awful." He confessed, trembling.

"What do you do?" James asked, at once.

"I don't know." Peter said. "But I'm not going to. Hermione's going to stop me."

"How?" Remus asked, at once, losing any pretence of reading.

"By treating him better." Hermione said. "You think your actions don't do any harm, but I'm certain that they do. They do terrible harm, not just to Peter but to Severus Snape as well, and indirectly to all of you. You have to treat him better."

"We treat him excellently." James exclaimed, in shock. "He's like a little pet rat!"

"If you can't see how disgusting that statement is, then we have a massive problem." Hermione said, as calmly as she could.

"No, we don't!" James laughed. "He _is_ a little rat. And Lupin is a wolf in sheep's clothing, and Sirius is our resident guard dog."

"He had bruises right up both arms and a massive bump on his head because you, Sirius, keep throwing him through doors and out of rooms. I've seen you do it repeatedly, even since I've been here."

"He's a twit." Sirius said, haughtily. "That's hardly my fault."

"That _is_ your fault." Hermione assured him.

"Fine. I'll treat him like a pathetic little woman." Sirius snapped. "Shall I hold the doors open for you, Worm?"

"My friends are the best, Hermione." Peter said, desperately. "They're great, honestly."

"They're not." Hermione assured him. "And we have to try something different, because I know how the future turns out. Do you understand that, James? We _have to try something different_. For all your sakes."

"And that something different is 'being nicer to Peter'?" Remus asked, in his soft husky voice.

"Yes, it is." Hermione assured him. "He thinks you're all wonderful. Something awful happens to all your friendships in the next two and a half years. If you can hold it together for that long, you _can _change your futures, I'm sure of it."

"Interesting." James mused. "Alright. All our futures, hey? Although, frankly, I find it very hard to believe that me and Pads have 'awful things happen to our friendship'. He's my sworn blood-brother and unless he runs off with my lovely Lily I can't see us having a falling out."  
"And I would never do that, to you." Sirius assured him. "Nothing could come between us, Prongs."

"Death could come between you, Sirius." Hermione assured him. "Prison could." Sirius wrinkled his pretty nose. He was still nearly naked, all tussled black hair and a lot of smooth creamy skin.

.

"And that's Peter's fault, is it? Something stupid you do, Worm?"

"I don't know." Peter assured him. "But yes, I obviously do something terribly stupid. But I'm determined not to. You can all watch me like hawks. If it happens in the next couple of years, and you're all looking out for it. Don't trust me to do anything important."  
"When do we ever?" James pointed out. "I want to know what it is." He added. "This is what you told Lupin?"

.

Hermione looked at Remus, who again lifted his head out of the book and nodded. "Yes." He said. "It's interesting if we can change the future for the better, James?"

"Yes, it's fascinating." James agreed, at once. "If you don't cock it up for all of us, Worm."  
"I won't." Peter assured them.

"None of you are getting this!" Hermione interrupted, sharply. "Do you understand what I'm saying about treating Peter better."

"Why not Moony?" Sirius asked, pointedly.

"_Anyone_ you are treating badly, Sirius," Hermione told him. "Treat them better. Remus, you and Peter have been best friends since first year?" Remus looked over at them before nodding.

"Yes." He said. "What do you want me to do?"

"Partner him in practical's and stand up for him if anyone's nasty to him."  
"Moony _always_ partner's Peter!" Sirius exclaimed, irritably. "And Peter is useless at everything."

"Sirius, are you not grasping what I am saying here?" Hermione demanded.

"Be nice to Peter." Sirius smirked. "Tell him how great and clever he is."

"At least he's nice." Hermione pointed out.

"I wonder why he can't get a girlfriend?" Sirius laughed, blinking his long eyelashes at her, sweetly.

"And clearly he is very clever and talented to become an animagus at sixteen. How many wizards do you know who've done that? I think he's clever than any of you are giving him credit for. He pulls off some very impressive magic in the future."  
"I seriously doubt that." Sirius scoffed.

"And he beats you in a duel." Hermione added, sharply. Sirius stopped laughing, his mouth closing with a sharp click.

"…That's bollocks." He said, finally. "And what sort of a little shit do you turn into, Peter, if you want to duel me?"

"I don't know." Peter assured him. "I think you're ace, Sirius."

"Well clearly you're even more of a twat than we give you credit for." Sirius pointed out. "I'm not sure hugging you decent is going to work, or why Hermione wants to try. Maybe she has a thing for boys that still look thirteen."

.

"…Anyway." James said, brightly. "Pack that in before you start him snivelling, Pads. We are going to be nicer to you Peter. You say if you think we're mistreating you."

"And we're going to be partners." Hermione said. "Me and Peter."

"But you're a girl." James pointed out.

"Officially I'm a boy." Hermione pointed out. "And as far as I know boys and girls are allowed to work together." James giggled.

"Well, who the hell is going to be Moony's partner than!?" Sirius demanded.

"You are." Hermione told him. "James can partner Lily, because if my plan works they've got a long marriage ahead of them, and all you do with her is drink and kiss."

"And that's bad how?" James asked, with a grin. "You want me to work with Lily, in class? Like I'm going to be able to concentrate then!"

"If Hermione can manage, partnered with Peter, the sex-god, I'm sure you'll be able to struggle through." Sirius pointed out.

"It sounds like an elaborate prank, purely to annoy Marlene to me." James offered. "In which case, respect to you, Hermione. Maybe, if you can't get back to your own time, you could get together with Pads, and all that. He argues with Marlene all the time."

"She's a dumb slut and I can't stand her." Sirius said, stifling a yawn and flinging himself down into the bed. "Can you all go away now? I said I wanted to be on my own. I've got the plan. Be nice to, Peter. Why don't you nicely bugger off, Peter, and take your girlfriend with you."

.

.

.

"…Well, no." Hermione whispered to Peter. "She thought I couldn't understand what they were saying because Sirius said I was a Russian pureblood, with no English at all."

"And you were pregnant and he wanted to marry you?"

"He hadn't thought it through at all. I think he just wanted to talk to her."

"About the Tom Riddle thing. I'm not surprised." Peter assured her, with a little sigh. "He's not great at thinking things through." He glanced at the curtained bed, where Sirius was presumably sleeping.

.

Hermione and Peter were sitting on the window seat, the moonlight casting their shadows onto the floor. James had kicked his covers off and was again lying, arms thrown out, in just his hilarious little y-fronts. Peter noticed she'd looked at him and giggled, flashing her pink gums.

.

"They _are_ all ace, you know." He told her, earnestly. "Prongs is just the best. He's excellent. And Sirius is very unhappy, really. That's the only reason he's a bit quick tempered. His home life was horrible and, even thought all the girls lust after him, I think it just messes his head up even more.

"And Remus?" Hermione asked, quietly, glancing at the bed, still not sure if it was Remus' or Sirius'. _Both_, was the only plausible answer.

.

"Remus is the best." Peter assured her. "He's really kind and sensible, utterly brave, and there isn't anything he wouldn't do for his friends, any of us. And he's the only person who can calm Sirius down when he's upset."

.

"I noticed." Hermione assured him. "Are they…?"

"…Asleep?" Peter asked, looking up at her with his clear blue eyes.

"No… _Together_?" Hermione, whispered.

"_Oh!_" Peter laughed, amused at his lack of comprehension. "Yeah. They _always_ sleep together. It's an animagus thing. It changes you, being an animagus. It's part of your soul. When I change… When I'm a rat, I feel rather scared, sleeping on my own. Rat's don't, you see? I used to sleep on Remus' pillow. Then Sirius got in on it, in sixth year."

"You all sleep together, in your animagus forms?" Hermione said, peering at the dark curtained bed.

"Sometimes." Peter shrugged. "Sirius more 'took over' than 'joined in'."

"He threw you out?"

"Literally." Peter said, with a forced chuckle. "It's not because he's a 'spoilt brat'." He added quickly. "It's actually quite the opposite, I think. His parents _always _made him feel like second best; an unwanted son and an embarrassment. So here, at Hogwarts, I think he wants things for himself. He wants to be the special one. Even James thinks he's being brattish, but he's not. And I don't mind it. I think it's nice if he can feel valued and valuable here. I can't believe Tom Riddle _is_ Voldemort though. That is really weird. I know he was meant to be very handsome and charming, but I never imagined him looking like _Sirius_. No wonder even the purebloods liked him."

"He's doesn't look like Sirius. In my time he barely looks human." Hermione told him. "And he's horrific."

"He is now." Peter said. "Already, I mean, he's horrific inside. We're all going to fight him when we leave school in July. I'm going to use my animagus abilities to spy for the Greater Good. Prongs and Padfoot are recruiting people already. They're purebloods so people listen to them. Moony's going to live in a real werewolf pack."

"You're going to be a spy?"

"Yes. For Dumbledore. Because I can turn into a rat, I can sneak into rooms, listen to people, find out anything really, and no Homorevelus spell will pick me out. It is very useful… I am proud of it, you know? There isn't much I'm proud of but that was clever of me, wasn't is?"

"Yes…" Hermione trailed off, watching Remus stumble through the curtains and vanish into the bathroom. "We'd better go to bed." She pointed out. "It's late."

"Lie in, tomorrow." Peter said, with a grin. "Sunday's are the best. I hope I haven't bored you too much." With a parting good night, they headed to their own beds. Hermione lay, still awake, for a long time, wondering what to do about Peter, who seemed so nice and yet was going to do something so awful. She listened to Remus padding back across the bedroom, and Sirius hissing something cross at him, the ruffle of covers and then the vast stretching silence, that stretched into her sudden awakening, to the smell of bacon and the laughter of the four boys.

.

Sirius, Hermione noticed, maintained his rather boyish figure, as far as she could establish on a diet of black coffee. He was still dozing now, again topless in the tangled white sheets. Hermione had seen Ron topless many times, and Harry as well. She'd seen boys swimming of course, so she was not sure why Sirius managed to make it so much more impressively than anyone else. But he did. He looked lovely, but despite Peter's rather sweet defence of his behaviour during their midnight discussion, his personality was ugly. The other three boys were hungrily stuffing their faces with bacon baps, cross-legged on the floor. Sirius was whining, irritably, about something, and refusing to get up. Hermione dressed in the bathroom, in Peter's jeans and t-shirt, and joined them on the floor.

.

"Looking rather lovely, but not very convincingly boyish!" James informed her, waggling his eyebrows and eyeing up her chest in the most shocking manner.

"Don't do that." Hermione told him. "It's boiling outside and I'll put a shirt on before I leave the room. Maybe you could lend me one of your bigger t-shirts."

"Have mine." Sirius said, hitting her in the face with it and laughing. It smelt of aftershave and was still warm from having lain beside him in the tangled sheets. "…I don't want to get up." He added, a moment later, voice returned to petulant whine.

"Don't then." James told him.

.

"_Moony_." Sirius whined. "_Moon-ny._"

"We've got a prefect meeting." Remus said, offering him a bacon bap, which Sirius immediately turned his nose up at, rolling onto his back to scowl at the top of the four-poster. "It won't take long."  
"And then we can practice Quidditch!" James assured him, briskly. "And duelling, Pads!" He added. Sirius growled and rolled away from them.

"Why don't you lie-in, until they get back?" Peter suggested. "I could show Hermione the lake."

.

"She's seen the lake, you moron!" Sirius shouted at him. "And she'd be embarrassed to go out with you because you look about ten, making her look like a right pervert!"

"Pack it in, Padfoot." James warned him. "We're being extra nice to Peter, remember?"

He's too annoying." Sirius snapped. "I just can't. He's going to land me in prison, isn't he! That doesn't make me want to be extra nice to the pratt."

"By accident, Padfoot!" Peter assured him. "And I'm not going to. Hermione is going to help me and make sure I don't."

.

"I think we should go." Hermione decided. "Eat our breakfast by the lake, Peter."

"_Moony!_" Sirius screeched, furiously.

"Pads, I'm here." Remus assured him. "And I'm going to be ten minutes in a prefect meeting, and then I'll be back." Sirius growled. _Growled!_

.

"I want to be on my own!" He exploded.

"Well, apparently you're in luck." Hermione pointed out. "Because you're being so vile that no one wants to be near you. Come on, Peter."

"Back in ten." James said, stuffing his mouth full of food. "Get washed and dressed."

"_Moony!_" Sirius howled. "Moony, you twat!" James snorted, throwing his hands in the air and stalking out. If Remus actually stayed to reason with Sirius, Hermione didn't wait to see, taking Peter down to the lakeside.

.

It was warm and lovely. Peter fetched his books and went over the work they'd done recently in class and the study they were meant to have done for the following day. It was just like normal, only Ron, Harry and Ginny weren't there. Only this sweet nice boy who was going to get everyone killed, and his horrible friends.

.

They transfigured rushes into sausages and frogspawn into baked beans for their lunch, and ate it out in the sunshine. Peter continued to be adorable. Hermione could not imagine how he could do so much damage in the next two and a half years.

.

They were interrupted by James and Sirius towards the end of the day. Back with their heavily made-up girlfriends, in their floral maxi-dresses and hippy hair. Sirius, who Hermione was starting to think was actually _insane_ rather than just a bastard, was actually very nice to Peter, apologising for his lousy behaviour, and making all sorts of funny jokes, largely at James's expense, that had both girls in fits of laughter. Hermione had no idea what to make of it. Marlene spent a lot of time holding onto Sirius's very possessively, and glaring at her, but Hermione ignored it, listening to the occasional comment Lily made and wondering if she was at all like Harry, because James didn't seem to be in anything but looks.

.

.

.

As if they had now forgotten Hermione was a girl altogether, James, Sirius and Remus all dressed in the dorm, staggering about half naked, searching for clean clothes, and bottles of ink. Hermione dressed in the bathroom, and ate a rushed breakfast, peering at the other students, which she'd barely noticed before. They looked weirdly the same, but not the same. As if she was about to spot a familiar face but never quite did.

.

Lily and Marlene didn't come to breakfast, too busy with their make-up and false eyelashes. The first class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, which all the Marauders attended, Peter uncertainly sitting next to her, while James made a massive deal about sitting with Lily, at the front of the class, and Sirius and Remus vanished to the back. Marlene sat with an equally made-up caked girl, so Hermione thought she'd probably be alright. The teacher, or possibly teachers, were Siamese twins, although one appeared to be sleeping and the other took the entire class. The novelty of this appeared to have worn off, long ago, for the other students and Hermione was too considerate to stare. The actual work was easy enough. Nothing she wasn't well prepared for. The rest of the day, and the rest of the week, continued in the same way. She worked with Peter, who was not hopeless at all and became less and less shy as the days passed.

.

They talked a lot about Ron and Harry. It was weird not knowing when she would see them again, but Hermione suspected that, with it being a time-travel spell, she would eventually return to the same moment in the library, and so Ron would not be missing her at all. This helped a lot. Peter helped a lot, listening and caring. He was actually a brilliant listener, and although she saw no hint of betrayal or disloyalty in him, she could understand how he had been such a useful spy to both sides in the war.

.

Her plan to partner Peter hadn't just been brilliant for Peter either. James appeared to be astonished that Lily was a gifted witch as well as something fun to squeeze and put his tongue in. He talked about her incessantly, and spent most of his time working on assignments and secret things for Dumbledore, with her. The seating arrangement had also done something strange to Sirius and Remus's relationship, as they no longer spent any time at all with anyone but each other, from dawn till dusk, and the night time hours in between. They were locked in the dormitory when Regulus Black arrived at the portrait hole, and spoke to James, who dutifully went to tap on the dormitory door.

.

"What!?" Sirius demanded, through the wood.

"Your brother is here and wants to speak to you." James told him. "And he has a message from your parents."

"What!?" Sirius exploded. There was a hushed conversation on the far side of the door and then Sirius called back that he would be right down. A moment later he appeared, sweeping through the Common Room to confront Regulus in the corridor. The other three Marauders and Hermione followed him, wands drawn, but Regulus had not come to fight. He was clearly alone and the first thing he did was embrace a rather startled Sirius, before informing him that he was to come home the following weekend, with his Russian bride. Regulus seemed very genuinely happy for him. Sirius waited until he had gone before laughing, hard.

"They'll get the message clear enough when I don't turn up." He dismissed it, and went happily back to lock himself in the dormitory.

.

"So what do you think they're doing, up there?" Hermione asked, finally.

"Studying." Peter said, without glancing up. "Talking, more likely. But they'll say studying."

"But you think they're probably talking?" Hermione clarified. Peter nodded.

"Yeah." He said. "I think they like studying together… Not as much as James and Lily though!" He added, with a naughty giggle, pointing her attention to James, trying to play footsy with a girlfriend who looked like she was trying very hard to have a serious conversation with him. "…I love studying with you." Peter added, studying his paper very hard. "I've never been this happy before. My friends really have been nicer since you talked to them. I'll be devastated when you leave. Sirius is nicer now Remus is studying with him. James can be a bit impatient with Pads, and Remus shows you how to do everything. I'm sure he'll make an excellent teacher. And Sirius is so much happier, with all that 'one-on-one' studying."

.

Hermione's lips quirked into a little smile, but she nodded, firmly. "Yep." She said. "He does seem pretty happy with all that… 'one-on-one' studying… Sirius is more studious than I imagined he would be."

"It's probably because it's N.E.W.T.s" Peter explained, earnestly. "And because Remus is encouraging him. He makes the most boring stuff seem interesting... Sirius was never this into studying before."

"Yep, he is loving that studying." Hermione said, mildly. She looked up at Peter again, who only nodded and picked up his book.

.

"…So you really think I'm not going to mess everything up, with your help?" He asked, hopefully.

"Yes." Hermione said. "I'm more worried now about negative changes that might occur and how to deal with them. Although what you did was bad, in the long run… In the long run Harry killed Voldemort. Twice, in fact. It worked out well, so… Obviously I don't want to stop that happening."

"And I help bring down Voldemort?" Peter asked, wide-eyed. "So, I do, do, some good."

"It's complicated." Hermione sighed. "I wish I knew what happened between you four, after leaving school in July and..."

"And the bad thing?" Peter asked, anxiously. "Well, you know Harry is born."

"Yes. And James and Lily get married. And only Sirius is there. Not you or Remus."

"Because I'm spying and Remus is with the Werewolf pack, I suppose."

"Sirius is James's Bestman and later Harry's Godfather. Harry's born in July 1980."

"Wow. So James gets Lily pregnant next year?" Peter said, looking over at the Head-Boy and Head-Girl chatting to each other.

"And they fight Voldemort three times, face to face."

"James and Lily do!?" Peter asked, in alarm. Hermione nodded.

"…And you all stop trusting each other."

"So, _we mustn't_." Peter pointed out. "And no one should trust me with anything…" He trailed off, as Remus came down the stairs, watching them.

.

"Everyone looks hot." Peter said, nodding to Remus's flushed cheeks. "We could do with some cooling charms… You alright, Moony?"

"I want to talk to Hermione." Remus said.

"Why?" Peter asked, uneasily. "What's up?" Remus, ignoring him entirely, lifted his _very_ golden eyes to look over at James, who had also noticed.

.

"You alright, Moony?" James asked, coming over as well. "Something wrong with Pads?"

"No." Remus said, in his quiet, hoarse, voice. "I want to talk to Hermione, about her plan."

"Good stuff. Meeting in the Dorm then!" James said, brightly.

"Not with Peter." Remus said, looking down at him, fixedly.

.

"Moony, you are feeling feisty because of the date." James informed him. "Peter has to come, or you are not being 'nice' to him; which is what the plan is. As long as he doesn't do anything important all shall be well. Right, Hermione?"

"Right." Hermione said. "You've got to stick together, Remus. That is the only way the plan _will _work."

"If it works." Remus said, and stalked back up to the dormitory, wafting Werewolfy pheromones and fierceness.

.

Sirius, for once, was out of bed, drinking water and watching them from the window seat. The dormitory was hot and stuffy, but Hermione didn't think it could be held entirely culpable for the flushed nature of either boys.

.

"Right. What did you want to say, Remus?" She asked.

"What if your plan doesn't work?" He said at once.

"It has to." Hermione said. "And I believe it will. It _is_ working, and I will be here, I'll stay to see it through."

"The moon is making you tense, Moony." James pointed out. "We are all being nice to Peter. He's very happy, aren't you, Peter?"  
"We always were nice to him." Remus pointed out, words spoken with a calmness that didn't sit convincingly with his tense muscles and hardened jaw.

"You were." James pointed out cheerfully. "But Pads is definitely being nicer to him, aren't you, Pads?"

"Ironically." Sirius pointed out. "Because I like him less now that I know he's going to cock up my entire life."

"I'm not going to." Peter assured him, at once. "I swear on my mother's life, Pads. I'm not going to."

"The stakes are too high." Remus growled. Hermione shivered, the sound reminding her of Fenrir, and made the flesh on her back prickle and crawl.

.

"Well, what choice have we got?" She asked, calmly. "What do you suggest, Remus?"

"Don't suggest stuff till tomorrow." James told him, rather urgently.

"The problem will be the same tomorrow." Remus growled.

"Well you won't feel the same." James pointed out. "And perhaps if I knew a bit more about what the future held I could come up with something helpful. But all your're telling me is that Peter makes some crappy call that screws up Padfoot's life, and Hermione thinks us being nice and trusting each other is going to avoid it. You think it's going to work, Hermione…?"

"It's too big a risk." Remus interrupted him. James hated being interrupted. He sat back on his bed, frowning.

"Surely that's Padfoot's call." He pointed out.

"It effects all of us." Remus said, pacing about the room, making it feel small and overcrowded.

"I'm not going to do anything." Peter said, miserably. "I really won't." Remus growled again.

"You should go to Madame Pomfrey." James told him, irritably.

"It's not time." Sirius said. Remus stopped pacing, looking carefully over Sirius, his eyes dark with anxiously.

"How can being nice make that much difference?" He asked, again. Sirius shrugged at him.

"Seems unlikely to me." He agreed. "And you've always been nice to Wormy. He was still going to screw us over. I doubt me giving him a daily hug is going to make that much difference."

"Nor do I." Remus said, closing his eyes for a moment, before he started to pace again; faster now.

.

"Moony?" Sirius said, silver eyes following Remus back and forth. "_Moony_!" Sirius said. "Be alright, yeah?"

"What if it's not?" Remus snapped. "This _isn't_ okay. The stakes are too high."

.

"I'll probably end up in Azkaban, no matter what you do." Sirius pointed out. "I'll kill myself before I end up a play thing for the Dementors. They're not having my happy memories, Moony."

"No." Remus said, closing his eyes again.

.

"Remus, will you please go to Madame Pomfrey!" James exclaimed. "It's just the full moom!"

"No!" Sirius shouted over him. "No! Go away, Prongs! I want to be on my own!"

"You're such an _arse_, Padfoot." James exclaimed. "You've just dragged us all up here."

"I want to be on my own." Sirius growled. James huffed, loudly.

"Technically." Hermione pointed out, "You know that doesn't make sense, don't you?"

"Shut up!" Sirius told her. "Go away! I want to be on my own!"

"Ignore him." James assured her. "He's just being a brat."

.

"What about Madame Pomfrey?" Hermione asked, stalling, and causing Peter and James to both stop; Peter loyally beside her, and James holding the door.

"What _about_ Pomfrey!?" Sirius shouted. "Go away! I want to be on my own!"

"It's our dormitory as well." Hermione reminded him, calmly. "But be on your own, Sirius. And I don't know if you're always like this, Remus, but perhaps you _should_ go to the infirmary."

"I'm fine." Remus said, quietly.

"Go away!" Sirius exploded.

"I will." Hermione assured him. "Provided you will stop saying that you want to be 'on your own' when you clearly want the opposite. That is driving me to distraction."

.

Sirius closed his mouth with an impressive clunk. "Go away." He growled. "I want… _I want to be on my own._" He said, sullenly. "You shouldn't be in here, anyway. I don't know what Dumbledore is thinking."

"Dumbledore is trying to keep Hermione safe." James pointed out. "He can't put her anywhere else without more people finding out who she is. And he trusts me. You have been locked up here _all_ day, Pads. It is getting a bit annoying."

"I'm tired and I want to be on my own." Sirius said.

"Why don't you let Moony go to Pomfrey?" James suggested. "Go down to the Common Room and flirt with some girls."

"_Because I_…!" Sirius shouted.

"…Because what?" Peter asked him, fearfully.

"Because I want to talk to Remus." Sirius said, as nicely as he could manage. "Go away, Worm, Prongs. I mean it."

"Sirius, you've been talking all day!" James pointed out. "Let Moony go to the infirmary, and come down to the Common Room. We'll play something."

"James, I am going to Azkaban until I die!" Sirius said. "I want to be on my own!"

"Hermione's right. It isn't on your own." James pointed out. "And how is Moony meant to calm you down, when he looks like he wants to kill someone? You'll make each other worse. You clearly _have _made each other worse, locked up here all day."

.

"I will have to go to the infirmary by the time you finish arguing about it." Remus interrupted, finally. "Can you give us five minutes, Prongs?"

"Don't you start!" James warned him. "Moony, go to the infirmary. Pads, do you actually want five minutes to calm down?"

"No, I want five minutes talking to Moony!" Sirius exploded. "Alright? Is that too much to ask? _Fine! _I will walk to the Infirmary with you, Moony. And you are an arse, Prongs!" He thumped James as he stalked through the door, Remus following him silently.

.

Hermione listened to their footsteps fading. James sat on Sirius' crumpled bed sheets, absently ruffling his hair. "So…" Hermione said.

"Hmm?" James asked.

"So." Hermione said again. "They live together in the future."

"Who?" James asked.

"Sirius and Remus."

"Oh, yeah." James agreed. "That is kind of the plan. We're going to get a place together. Fight the forces of evil together."

"Can I tell him?" Peter squeaked.

"Please do." Hermione said, in relief.

"Prongs!" Peter said, excitedly. "Prongs, you're going to knock Lily up_, next year!_"

"Next year!" James yelled jumping off Sirius's bed and then up onto it. "Oh…!" He bounce excitedly. "My…!" High enough to hit the ceiling in delight. "God! And she's _okay_ with that!?"

"I think she's very happy about it." Hermione said, trying not to laugh. "But what I'm trying to say is… Sirius and Remus spend an awful lot of time up here, together. You have noticed that, right?"

"Remus has always stopped him going off on one." James said, still bouncing.

"But the studying is new." Peter offered. "I think they like working together. Remus will make an excellent teacher.

"Okay." Hermione said. "Who's bed are you bouncing on?"

"Moony's!" James laughed. "Because I'm gonna knock Evans up!" He mimed catching a golden snitch and flung himself down on the messy sheets with a thump. "So happy." He grinned. "Although you're right, Herm. That much studying can't be good for you and, frankly, Sirius ought to know better. I'm going to make McKinnon have a word with him."

"Because he's still going out with Marlene?" Hermione asked, at once.

"They're always on and off." James assured her. "Obviously he loves you, Herm. But you're already taken, love."

"I don't think he's that into me or Marlene, James." Hermione pointed out. "Don't you think, Peter?"

"I'm sure he is." Peter said, blushing beetroot pink. "You're… You're really pretty, Hermione."

.

James screeched, falling off the bed with a crash and beating the floor with his fist as he laughed, manically. "…So out of your league, Peter! …you pratt!" He sobbed, tears leaking from his eyes he was laughing so hard. "So far out of your league, rat-boy!"

"I said 'for Sirius'!" Peter stammered, mortified, and then he fled the room.

.

"That's you being nice to Peter, is it?" Hermione said, angrily. "Get up, James! You really are the most self-obsessed, unobservant idiot ever!"  
"No, that would be Sirius!" James laughed. "Peter fancies you! Ahahahahaha!"

"Peter is kind!" Hermione informed him, angrily. "He's nice and funny. He loves you all and is always there to stick up for you and look out for you!"  
"Ooooh! Peter and Hermione, in a tree… K! I! S! S! I! N…"

"_Petrificus Totalus_!" Hermione screeched.

.

She took a deep breath. James peered up at her, from his rigid position on the floor. "…That's better." She assured him. "Now… Firstly, you know I have a boyfriend, James, who I love and who loves me. We have been through hell and back together and I have no idea if I am ever going to see him again. It's not funny. Secondly, Peter liking… me, or anyone, isn't a joke. He's your friend, _at the moment_. But he won't be, for much longer, if you keep treating him like this." James blinked at her, from his frozen position. "And thirdly, Sirius and Remus are not studying! You naïve idiot! Have a think about that. I'm going to find Peter and get some dinner."

.

Hermione had found Peter. They were half way through desert, at the Gryffindor table, when James finally caught up with them. "That was some stupid trick, Granger." He snapped, rubbing the crick in his neck as he sat down, taking Peter's bowl and tucking in, hungrily. "Peter, you're a moron. Granger; number three, right? You're joking about that, yeah?"

"Joking about what, James?" Peter asked, looking at his stolen pudding, sadly.

"Pads and Moony, studying all the time." James said, narrowing his eyes at Peter thoughtfully. "What do you think about that, Worm?"

"Moony's good at explaining things." Peter suggested. "And you know… they probably aren't studying, all the time, are they."

"Right." James said. "…I think they're studying and… And sometimes they're talking, because Remus is very calm when Sirius goes off on one. Sirius knows what he's like. He knows Moony'll calm him down."

"Okay." Hermione said, finishing her own pudding. "Glad that's clarified."

.

.

Sirius had stayed in the Infirmary with Remus and Hermione played chess with Peter.

.

It was, she could honestly say, an utter mystery how Little Peter turned into the traitor, because Little Peter was actually adorable; vastly nicer than all the other Marauders put together… Well, James and Sirius, anyway. Remus was probably perfectly nice; or presumably was, it was hard to know as 'studying' took up all of his free time. Although Remus had been a wonderful teacher and adult, the fact that he thought so highly of Sirius, who was an utter arse, didn't bode well. But presumably believing Sirius was the traitor had made him rethink how wonderful Sirius' views on everything else were, and shaped him into the humble pleasant adult he became.

.

Lily wanted James to work on an assignment with her, but he wouldn't. He was, Hermione was certain, watching the Marauders Map, which he had hidden on his lap. "What do you think he's doing?" Peter whispered.

"He's spying on Sirius." Hermione told him. "And Remus."

"They'll be in the Infirmary." Peter pointed out, glancing over at James again. "Where else would they be, tonight? Moony won't be taken away for a couple of hours…" He trailed off, watching James coming over, map now tucked out of sight.

.

"What do you think they're doing?" James demanded. "Why are they together _all _the time?"

"It's not _all_ the time, Prongs." Peter pointed out.

"It is now." James said, firmly. "Since Hermione said I should work with Lil and Pads should partner up with Moony. This is your fault, Granger."

"Sirius was in the Common Room yesterday afternoon." Peter pointed out, helpfully.

"While Moony was at the Prefects meeting?" James pointed out. "It's _all_ the time, Wormy. I'm starting to think Moany McKinnon has got a point."

"But he he won't be with Moony tomorrow." Peter pointed out. "Do something with him while Moony's in the Infirmary. You spend a lot of time with Lily now. He's probably hanging out with Moony to give you space."  
"No, he's not." James snapped. "He's not that considerate. Do you think they're smuggling girls into the dorm?"

"Ooh, could be." Peter giggled. "How would they?"

"And why would they?" Hermione pointed out. "Girls love Sirius anyway and Remus doesn't want a girlfriend."

"And it would be a bit weird, wouldn't it?" Peter pointed out. "It's a small room and, you know, they'd be a bit… on top of each other, wouldn't they?"

"Yeah, well, maybe they're planning a prank." James said, spiking his hair, uneasily.

"You could just ask Padfoot." Peter suggested.

"Yes. I shall." James nodded. "You wait here. I'm getting the Invisibility Cloak."

"What do you need the invisibility cloak for?" Peter asked, in surprise.

"Are you sure, James?" Hermione asked, eyebrows vanished into her fringe.

"_Bloody sure_." James snapped.

.

Sirius and Remus were, (unsurprisingly, in Hermione's opinion) kissing; Sirius on the window ledge, Remus standing, pressed against him. They jumped apart as the door opened, Remus giving a nervous chuckle as he concluded it was a draft.

.

"…Better hadn't be Peeves." Sirius said, pouting irritably, as Remus left him, to check the corridor was empty and to make sure the door was properly closed.

"Just a draft." He said, coming quickly back to rake a hand into Sirius's silky hair and pull him back into another kiss. "Thanks for staying."

"Show me you appreciate it." Sirius told him, tilting his head back against the window, smirking.

"Yeah, or _don't!_" James yelled, furiously; yanking off the Invisibility Cloak.

.

Sirius fell off the window ledge, cursing furiously as he scrambled back to his feet. "What do you want, Prongs!?" He demanded. "Piss off! We're talking!"

"Bloody funny sort of talking!" James pointed out. "What the hell, Pads?!"

"What?" Sirius scowled at him. "We're talking. Go away."

"That's not talking!" James exploded. "That is… _what_!?"

"We were just… talking." Remus said, utterly unconvincingly. Sirius glared at him.

"…No, we weren't talking." He pointed out. "But it's none of your business, Prongs. Definitely not you two's." He added, glaring at Hermione and Peter.

.

"_You let him kiss you_!" James shouted.

"So!? I don't give a flying flobber worm!" Sirius shouted back. "Piss off!"

"What if… What if he's bewitched?" Peter suggested, hiding behind James' back. James narrowed his eyes, realising this was unlikely but desperate enough to consider it.

.

"_Shit_… Get a girlfriend, Moony." He said, angrily. "That is utterly _rank_. Come on Worm, Granger."

"_No_." Hermione said, firmly. "_No_, James."

"…_What_? Come _on_, Granger!" James snapped again. "There's no point talking tonight."

.

"_I'm fine to talk, tonight_." Remus interrupted him. Sirius looked momentarily bemused, but he nodded.

"…Yeah." He agreed. "I'm fine to talk too, James. You want to tell me how I can and can't amuse myself, you go for it."

"_Amuse yourself_!?" James snorted.

"In my time..." Hermione interrupted him, calmly. "You and Remus lived together, Sirius. I think you were actually 'living together', although that didn't actually occur to me, when I was fifteen."

"…Aren't I married?" Sirius asked, doubtfully.

"No. You… You go to Azkaban, remember?" Peter stammered.

"Oh yeah. How could I forget." Sirius snapped at him. "For twelve years of mental torture."

"I… stay with Sirius?" Remus asked, frowning uncertainly. "When he's not alright? Or… am I not alright?"

"You're great, Remus. Not that you're an invalid, Sirius. You're just… Not the same." Hermione said, honestly.

"Thanks." Sirius assured her. "I thought your 'hug a rat' plan was going to save me from that, Granger?"

"It will. I promise. I'm _not_ going to do anything." Peter promised, fiercely, forcing himself to stop cowering behind James. "And… And I haven't got a problem with you two being 'like that'. Just… if you were worried, people might."

.

"Like _what_!?" Sirius snarled. "We're just messing around, you _freak_!"

"…Yeah." Remus muttered.

.

Sirius swung round. Remus cleared his throat and repeated himself, evenly. "Yes, we were just messing around but… thanks for the sentiment, Worm."

"…Right." Sirius said, staring hard at Remus. "Right… I do want… You know…

.

"_Go away, Prongs!_ _Take them away_."

"Like bollocks I will!" James exclaimed. "You _just_ said you were fine to talk! Start talking, you pervert! I bloody hope this isn't what you're always locking yourselves away in my bloody dorm for!"

"Yeah… It is, actually." Sirius said, without looking round at James, at all. "…Please go away, James."

"It's fine." Remus shrugged, his breath suddenly an audible sigh. "It's fine. I… It's fine."

.

"…We live together?" Sirius asked, turning back to Hermione, James and Peter. "Hermione?"

"Yes." Hermione said. "You go and live with Remus and then you take him to live in Grimmauld Place. So… yes. I'm pretty sure now that… yes, you do."

"But, I _would_ make sure you were alright." Remus pointed out, slightly nervously. "You know I would. Look what you've done for me, Sirius."

"Yeah..." Sirius nodded, pondering it. "…You do know…" He added, frowning at Remus thoughtfully. "You do know I love you, right?"

"Of course." Remus shrugged. Sirius sighed, turning back to James. He sighed again. He turned back to Remus, again.

.

"Yeah. I _actually love you_." He clarified. "You'd make sure _I_ was alright?"

"That is _so gay._" James pointed out, helpfully.

"Yeah, well, I don't see your future-self jumping up to make sure I'm okay." Sirius snapped. "And I'd like to see you being fine after twelve years in Azkaban."

.

"You should all get off, Sirius." Remus pointed out. "Pomfrey'll be back soon."

"Indeed." James agreed, briskly. "Come on, Pads."

"No." Sirius assured him. "No… _I'm… no_."

.

"Probably should." Remus pointed out, mildly.

"Yeah. No." Sirius said. "You… You're not messing about, Moony? I mean…?"

"What in Merlin's name_ do_ you mean, Sirius?" James demanded. "Pull yourself together, you freak!"

.

Remus pressed his very gold eyes closed for a moment. "…Shut up." He told James. "And; you know, Pads, like I said, I love you, so… _You know_."

"Well, yeah, but I love you." Sirius pointed out, apparently still trying to make these puzzling fact work together in his mind. "And this; I love this…"

"_Don't want to know, Pads_!" James exclaimed, urgently.

"Then get the hell out!" Sirius shouted at him. "You've already been told!"

"And _this_ is why no one can talk to you on the full moon." James pointed out.

.

"I love you , Sirius." Remus clarified, quickly. "And this. So yeah. "

"Yeah, what?" Sirius demanded.

"It's different for me." Remus pointed out, firmly. "So… Yes."

"I think I love you." Sirius pronounced.

"_What!_?" James hissed, in alarm. Sirius laughed, smugly.

"I love you, Moony." He said. "Just to clarify things."

"Padfoot!" James shouted at him, in exasperation. "Pull yourself together!"

"No." Sirius laughed. "I won't!"

"_Sirius_!" James yelled, angrily.

"James!" Sirius shouted back, laughing harder.

.

"_Pads._" Remus remonstrated, quietly. Sirius looked round at him, trying really hard not to grin.

"_I love you_." Sirius told him, firmly. "How did I not realise that? I love you and I love this."

"That is… _ghastly_." James assured him. "But _whatever_. Come back to the dorm, right now, or we're going to get detention and not be able to go tonight."

"Good point." Sirius assured him. "_Accio Cloak!_ Look, Prongs, I'm sorted. Now, James, I'm going to count to five and then I'm locking that door so you need to decide which side you want to be on for the next half hour."

"You have mental health issues." James assured him, shoving Peter at the door. "We're talking when you get back, Padfoot. I'm going to lock you in a closet with Marlene. And you're getting a girlfriend, Moony, whether you want one or not."

"Yeah, you sort that for us!" Sirius said, brightly, slamming the door.

.

He turned back to Remus, biting his lip. "James is funny." He concluded. "You're in love with me, aren't you?"

"I love you, Pads." Remus defended himself, quietly. "I just love you."

"It's fine." Sirius assured him. "It's nice, and I _am_ bloody gorgeous. It's not like you're the only person who feels like that." Remus raised an eyebrow, lips curling into a grin.

"No, you're an arrogant twit." He growled.

"Yeah, but you're going to love me when I'm an unrecognisable shadow of this." Sirius gestured himself brightly. "That's the sort of friend you are. _Isn't it_?"

"Yes." Remus nodded.

.

"I love you, greatly." Sirius said, going back to it. "And I love this. So…? So?" Remus came over, making Sirius laughed. "I _love_ this." He clarified again.

"Love what?" Remus asked him, grinning wolfishly and making Sirius snigger.

"This." He said, tangling his fingers in Remus's hair and kissing him, provokingly, trying to coax Remus into losing it, which he tended to, when the full moon was close.

.

For the longest time, this was the only night they'd ever done anything, letting it fester all month then blaming it on the wolf.

.

"Oh _shit_, I feel… so much about this." Remus groaned, trying to stop kissing him now. "I really… do."

"Good!" Sirius assured him, catching his face and peering into his gold flecked eyes. "_Good_." He assured Remus. "Because I think I might actually love you."

"I love you." Remus swore, ignoring entirely the half-hearted sentiment, as if it and lust purely gave him courage to say it, swear it, as he kissed harder against Sirius's throat and collar. "I love you, Sirius... It doesn't matter… Just want you to know… I love you. I really do."

"I love you too, Moony." Sirius assured him, unfastening his shirt quickly, so he could go back to groping. "You should have said, before."

"I'm saying now." Remus told him, pushing Sirius back against the wall, ripping off his shirt and sucking hard against his neck. "I love you, Sirius."

"I am stunned." Sirius said. "Ow." He added. "Too hard, Moony."

"Just let me…" Remus groaned, biting at his skin again. "Just once."

"Stuff 'once'." Sirius laughed. "We're doing this every night, until they come to march me off to Azkaban."

"I won't let them." Remus assured his neck.

"James and Hermione can't change the future." Sirius said, as he genuinely believed it. "But you're going to love me even when I'm messed up… _Yes, like that!_"

"_Sirius,_" Remus growled, snatching him round by a fistful of hair, so they were nose to nose.

"I'll shut up." Sirius laughed, kissing him.

"_I won't let it happen_." Remus promised, kissing and biting Sirius' neck again. "_I won't let it happen_."

.

.

"…And then they carried on with more of the same." Peter said, wrinkling his little nose and fidgeting nervously. "You know… _More_ than more of the same. So I thought, really, I had to get out of there, so I crept back under the door and turned human."

.

James put his head in his hands and blew air angrily out of his nose. "It's must be Moony's fault." He said, desperately. "Sirius is utterly innocent about things like that."

"Maybe he's just utterly not interested in girls, like that?" Peter suggested nervously. "He did look… They looked equally… interested."

"How can you be alright about this!?" James shouted at him. "Do you know Muggles go to prison for doing that!?"

"No they don't." Peter squeaked. "They don't, James. Not since we were eight. You know my aunt lives with her friend…"

"It's against the Muggle law." James interrupted him at once. "And disgusting!"

"It's not disgusting, at all." Hermione told him, firmly. "It's perfectly natural and fine, although it is illegal. It will still be illegal here in Scotland for another two years, and even then you have to be twenty one. But in my time it is perfectly legal, almost everywhere. There are still fourteen states in America where it's illegal and seventy countries, some still give you the death penalty, but not in Britain."

"Well you live in the future." James pointed out. "Here and now it's illegal for Muggles, and if the Black's find out… He is insane. Go back, Peter, and stop them!"

"You want me to turn into a rat, crawl into a locked room, turn human again and try to stop Sirius and Moony kissing?" Peter clarified, nervously. "...I don't think they're doing anything wrong, James."

"They're sick and Pomfrey is going to fix them!" James shouted. "…Tomorrow!" He added. "And Moony can stay in the Shrieking Shack on his own, tonight!"

"Sirius won't let you do that." Peter told him, anxiously. "He'll attack himself, like he used to. And he's much stronger now. He could hurt himself badly."

"_Good!_" James roared. "You don't think it's disgusting! Maybe there's something wrong with you, too!" And he flung himself out of the dormitory, slamming the door.

.

"…Oh my God." Hermione stammered. "…I didn't expect James to be like that."

"Why not?" Peter asked. "Because he's always so full of compassion for social outcasts and people who aren't like him?"

"Because he's Sirius's best friend." Hermione said. "Oh… my… God."

"My aunt lives with her friend." Peter told her. "It was really frowned on when she was young… I was hoping James wouldn't be like that, actually… Moony?" He looked up, in surprise, as Remus came into the dormitory, face pale, wand in his hand. "Oh, you've just met James, haven't you?" He concluded.

"No." Remus said, calmly. "Peter, if you knew what you become, you'd understand this, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry... _Avada Kedavra!_"

.

.

Hermione, who was still trying to get her head around James' hiddiously homophobic behaviour and Peter having a lesbian aunt, watched uncomprehendingly. She heard Remus speaking, but nothing had forewarned her he would do this.

.

The green flash was silent and clean. Peter dropped limply onto the floor with barely a thud.

.

Hermione was startled beyond trying to disarm Remus, although he dropped the wand immediately, kicking it over to her before crossing the room and kneeling at Peter's side, finding one of his warm hands and giving a choked sob as he held it. "I'm sorry." He whispered again, brushed the tears fiercely off his cheeks and walked out.

.

.

Hermione grabbed the wand, and hers, and ran for the Common Room. Remus must have sped up, as he was already out of sight.

.

With no better idea, Hermione sprinted for Dumbledore's office, only to find Remus already there, sobbing as he confessed everything.

.

"And you have his wand?" Dumbledore asked, calmly, coming to take it from Hermione. "Did you know this would happen?" He asked her. "Or are we to assume that your very presence had already drastically altered the future?"

.

Hermione hadn't started to consider this yet.

.

If Peter never left school, James and Lily wouldn't be betrayed and murdered. The spell wouldn't scar Harry, turn him into the last Horcrux and eventually kill Voldemort.

.

Peter wouldn't resurrect Voldemort in the graveyard or even tell the Death Eaters that Sirius was an animagus, preventing him from leaving the house…

.

"_You killed Little Peter!_" She exploded. "_He wasn't going to do any of it! I was going to help him_!"

"_I'm sorry,_" Remus sobbed, into his hands. "_I'm so sorry… He would have done it... I had to stop him… I'm so sorry…_"

"Enough." Dumbledore quietened them both. "Remus, take yourself immediately to the Shrieking Shack. Hermione, you will speak of this to no one. I shall deal with it."

.

.

James laughed uncertainly, as Hermione told him. He glanced at the empty beds.

.

"Remus killed Peter?" He clarified, trying not to smile. "With the Killing Curse, to change the future."

"Because I told him what Peter would do." Hermione said, white faced, trying not to cry herself, although it felt _totally_ unreal. This _did not happen_. "This alters everything so much… I don't even know what will happen." She added.

.

"Remus killed Peter?" James said again. "That's not even plausible…" He stopped laughing as Hermione started to cry, staring at her uncertainly. "Right… I think you might be being hormonal." He concluded. "And Lily is going to freak, if I stay up here just with you so... Stop crying, yeah? I'll find Peter to sit with you."

"_He's dead!_" Hermione screamed at him. _"Peter's really dead_!"

"I'll get Lily to sit with you." James said, running out of the room.

.

Lily seemed marginally nicer, finding Hermione crying hysterically. She sat on the bed, trying to straighten Hermione's wild hair, while James hovered anxiously in front of them. "So where are Peter and Remus?" Lily asked. "If they're not dead, James."

"You know where Remus is." James reminded her. "Because of his furry problem?"

"Right." Lily said, doubtfully. "And where are Peter and Sirius?"

"They're playing chess." James said, quickly. "Against some Ravenclaws, in their tower, for galleons."

"No, they're not." Hermione said. "They're animagus wizards. As is James. That is where he _thinks_ they are. But they're not. I saw Remus murder Peter."

.

"Remus just wouldn't." Lily pointed out.

"He did. I saw him. He did it for Sirius."

"Because he thinks Peter is going to betray Sirius, in the future?" Lily asked, doubtfully. "And where do you think Peter and Sirius are, if they're not playing chess in the Ravenclaw Tower? I have no idea what animagus wizards even means."

"_They're duelling_!" James shouted, quickly. "_Dueling with Ravenclaws_!"

"It means they can transfigure into animals! Like McGongergal changes into a cat!" Hermione shouted back. "For goodness sake, James. How long are you planning on keeping that a secret, you'll be married with a child next year, and Peter has just been murdered?!"

.

"…You can do _what?!"_ Lily screeched.

"No, we can't!" James stammered, sweeping his hand frantically through his hair. "We aren't! We can't! Hermione, tell her, we aren't!"

Hermione studied him in disgust. "Tell her the truth." She suggested. "This is Lily, your talking to."

"Because it's not true." James said. "Tell her it's not true."

"_It is true_." Hermione said. "I'm not going to lie about it. Peter is dead, James. Remus murdered him, in cold blood, for something he hasn't yet done. I don't think he was even going to do it, anymore."

"Just shut up." James warned her.

"Why?" Lily demanded. "You can turn into… You can turn into an animal? Why would you lie about that, James? Do you have any idea how advanced that magic is? …What animal?"

.

James stared at her, like a deer caught in head-lights. "…I can't." He lied, desperately.

"A deer." Hermione said. "A stag, like his patronus."

"Your patronus is a deer?" Lily asked. "My patronus is a deer. And you can take on the form of a stag? James? That is _amazing_!"

"It's illegal." Hermione told her. "But they did it with the very best intentions."

"_You've got to shut up_!" James shouted, spit flying from his mouth as he tried to stop her. "Shut up _or I'll make you_!" He added, brandishing his wand.

.

"But why?" Lily demanded, drawing her own wand. "Why, James Potter? You tell me right now, or I'm going to Dumbledore!"

"You can't!" James yelled. Lily laughed, green eyes flashing.

"Watch me, Potter!" She assured him

.

"You've got five seconds to explain why you aren't bragging about to anyone who'll listen. Then my partonus is informing Dumbledore of your illegal activities.

"Are you an animagus and why the secrecy?

"For Remus." Hermione said. "James?"

.

James stared at Lily, brandishing her wand, ready to send a patronus. "…We tried to do it, but we couldn't." James said.

.

"James is a stag, Sirius is a dog and Peter… Peter was a rat." Hermione said.

"…_Prongs, Padfoot and Wormtail_." Lily said. "Oh, my God! You _are_ animagus wizards, James. But that is _phenomenal magic_."

"They kept it secret because it's illegal." Hermione told her. "But they did it for Remus. He attacked himself at the full moon but Werewolves only attack humans."

.

"_That's completely made up_!" James stammered. "She's mad, Lily!"

.

"James, why are _you_ lying to me?" Lily demanded. "She is _obviously_ not lying, _Prongs_. And you did that for Remus? Because he attacked himself when he was alone? …That's why he doesn't look beaten up, anymore? That is so nice of you. Why would you lie about…? …_Oh, My God!"_ She leapt off the bed, dropping her wand, the furiously fighting James for it.

.

"It's lies!" James cried, desperately. "It's not true! Tell her it's not ture, Hermione!"

"_You bastards!_" Lily screamed, spit flying from between her pale lips. James wrenched the wand free and Lily belted him round the face, screaming hysterically.

.

"You bastards!" She screamed, hysterically. "_You meant him to die! You…! You…! How could you!? How could you…_!"

.

"WHAT!?" Hermione cried, completely confused. "What?…_You_ meant Peter to die? What?" She stammered, stepping sharply away from James, as well. "You _knew_ Remus was going to kill Peter?"

.

"_No_… _Sevy_!" Lily screamed. "Two _years_ ago! Sirius took my… my… My… Two years ago, Sirius took Sevy through the tunnel beneath the Whomphing Willow!

.

"…He _never_ thought Remus was restrained, _did he, James_!?" She roared, spit flying across the room. "_He meant Remus to kill Sevy! Didn't he!? While he took on an animal form_!"

"_No!_" James swore.

"_Yes!_!" Lily screamed at him. "And you _knew!_ All along, James! You knew and you lied to me! You lied to Dumbledore! You called Sevy a liar, to his face and you… you knew Sirius was trying to kill him! _I never want to speak to you again!_ _Give me my wand!_"

.

"_It was an act of madness!"_ James said, desperately. "_Sirius is mad! I didn't know about it! I swear!"_

"I'll never believe you about anything every _again!" Lily screamed at him. "And I'm telling Dumbledore!_"

.

Abandoning her wand she flung herself from the room.

.

"Thanks for that!" James exploded, turning on Hermione.

.

"She didn't know that Sirius tricked Snape into the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow?"

"No one knows." James snapped. "If she tells Dumbledore that Sirius is an animagus… Shit." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I have to talk to her." He concluded. "Stay here, Hermione, and just for once, try to keep your massive mouth shut!"

.

Hermione did stay in the dormitory, feeling sick with panic. She couldn't stop thinking about Peter. It was so hard to believe that had actually happened.

.

They'd been talking, then five seconds later he was dead. And he'd been defending Remus. Hermione still couldn't believe it James and Lily screeched at each other in her head, but she couldn't think past the flickering green light and Peter slumping to the floor.

.

It wasn't until she was finally dozing off, in the empty dorm, that it finally occurred to her that if she'd managed to split James and Lily up, then Harry would never even be born. Sick with fright she finally drifted into an exhausted sleep, filled with nightmares and panic.

.

Sirius woke her at an unknowable time, falling into the bed and curling against her. "…Think I've been drugged I'm so tired." He groaned, snuggling against her. "…Thank you for being so lovely, yesterday, Hermione… My head hurts so much… And James is an arse." He flung a surprisingly strong arm over her shoulders and went to sleep, face down in the pillow.

.

"Sirius." Hermione tried and failed to push him off. "Sirius! Wake up. Sirius, terrible things have happened."  
"Don't care." Sirius warned her. "Go back to sleep, can't you. I hate sleeping on my own."

"_Sirius_!" Hermione punched him, as hard as she could, on his shoulder.

"You don't frighten me." He laughed, putting his free hand over his head and making himself as heavy as he could. Hermione, not sure if she wanted to cry or kill him, wriggled out of the bed.

.

"Sirius." She said. "I have something terrible to tell you…"

.

She was starting to doubt herself, after the night of crazy dreams. "Please sit up. It's about Peter."  
"I don't even like Peter." Sirius pointed out. "Tell James. Where is James?"

"Trying to convince Lily not to tell Dumbledore you're an animagus." Hermione said. "Which apparently proves that you meant to murder Severus Snape when he was fifteen."

.

"What!?" Sirius flung himself back onto his feet, sweeping tangled hair off his rapidly blanching face.

"It wasn't a prank, was it?" Hermione conceded finally, watching him. "You _actually intended to kill_ Snape… To make Remus kill him."

"Oh, shit." Sirius exclaimed. "Dpes Dumbledore know?"

"I don't know." Hermione told him. "But it gets worse."

"_I doubt that!_" Sirius assured her. "Moony could be killed! He's a Werewolf! Does Dumbledore know he knew?"

.

"It gets worse, Sirius!" Hermione said, her own voice rising. "Please sit down!"

"What?" Sirius growled, sitting rather suddenly back on the bed.

"It's Peter." Hermione said, taking a deep breath. "No one believes me, Sirius, but this is true. You know I told Remus how Peter gets you sent to Azkaban, and we were making sure that didn't happen?"

"Yeah."

"Remus killed him, Sirius. To make sure he didn't."

"…What?" Sirius stared at her.

"Remus killed Peter. In cold blood. With the Killing Curse. So you'd be safe."

.

Sirius stared at her, his face draining totally of colour. "…Where is he?" He whispered, finally.

"I don't know." Hermione admitted. "James didn't believe me. I went to Dumbledore. I don't know where they've taken Peter's body but Remus was about to transform so Dumbledore told him to go straight to the Shieking Sha…"

.

Sirius jumped up, cutting her off as he dragged her down the stairs and through the quiet Common Room. They weren't going to Dumbldore's office, but directly to the Shrieking Shack.

.

Barely pausing Sirius froze the willow with a flick of his wand and shoved her ahead of him down the passage; probably how he had with Severus, before he'd turning into a dog and leaving him to be ripped to pieces by Remus.

.

A considerable amount of blood smeared the walls of the Shrieking Shack, which was not derelict in 1978. The furniture was freshly broken, rugs flung around, wallpaper ripped and blood on everything.

.

"Moony!" Sirius howled, running up the stairs, searching frantically, yelling again and again, before snatching Hermione and thrusting her back into the tunnel.

.

"James!" Sirius snarled, running into him in the Entrance Hall.

"Where have you been?" James demanded. "You need to speak to Lily. If you don't convince her you didn't do this she is going to dump me, and you are going to Azkaban for trying to kill Snivels."

"I don't care." Sirius assured him, snatching James's robes and thrusting him back into the wall. "Peter's dead, James! Go look at the arsing map if you don't believe me!"

"What?" James stammered.

"Who's dead?" A Slytherin standing behind them demanded.

"He's dead." Sirius assured him. "I can smell death in the room!"

"Shut up." James warned him, but he hurried with Sirius, still dragging Hermione, back to the dormitory. James snatched up the Marauders Map, searching for Peter on it.

"…He's not here." He concluded, looking up at Sirius with wide-eyes.

"Moony!?" Sirius demanded. "Where is Moony?!" James passed the map.

"Not here." He said. "Still at the shack, maybe?"

"We've just come from there." Hermione told him, watching Sirius frantically searching the layers of map.

.

"…We need to speak to Dumbledore." James said, watching him as well. "Sirius. He can't expel you for something you did two years ago. You were just a kid. And… And I'm one hundred per cent sure Moony won't have killed Peter."

"I can smell death in this room." Sirius said, chucking the map and grabbing Hermione again. They ran through the now busy corridors to the headmaster's office.

.

"Where's Peter?" James asked, as soon as they were let in. "Hermione thinks he's not alright." Dumbledore did not answer at once, regarding them in silence.

"Where's Remus?" Sirius demanded.

.

Dumbledore stood behind his desk, unsmiling. "Put your wands on the table." He said finally.

"Tell me what you've done with Remus." Sirius growled, his wand apparently already in his free hand.

"You lied to me." Dumbledore told him, solemnly. "You tried to murder a fellow student. Remus Lupin _has_ murdered a fellow student."

"Where is he?" Sirius said, without making the slightest attempt to deny the accusation.

"Remus Lupin…" Dumbledore said, if anything growning calmer still. "Murdered a student, in cold blood. He used an unforgivable curse. A werewolf, I have allowed to attend this school."

.

"I am _deathly serious_." Sirius snarled. "And I am not going to ask you again, _where is he!?_"

"The Ministry have taken him away." Dumbledore told him. "And The Ministry must deal with him, how they see fit, as they should have two years ago."

.

"The Ministry?" Sirius whispered, his eyes widening in horror. "You can't have…!"

"He murdered a seventeen year old boy." Dumbledore repeated. "You should have both been expelled two years ago."

.

"…The Ministry kill Werewolves that murder." Sirius stammered. Dumbledore studied him with scant compassion.

"It's out of my hands." He pointed out. "I trusted Remus. I believed he could show the world that Werewolves were humans and worthy of better treatment. Now, I must explain why I allowed him into Hogwarts, to murder an innocent student."

.

"_I don't care._" Sirius clarified. "I don't care! You don't know what they could be doing to him already! You help him, now! Help him or we won't help you! _We won't do anything for you_!"

"That must be your decision." Dumbledore told him. "I am not coercing you, Sirius."

"You need me!" Sirius assured him, furiously. "You help him now! _Do it_!" He screamed, sending spells exploding across the room, and bouncing back at them while Dumbledore watched, passive but clearly shielding himself. "Do it or I'll kill you!" Sirius screamed at him. "I'll kill her!" Ripping Hermione round to face his wand. "I'll kill students until you get him!"

.

"…Get a grip on yourself." Dumbledore told him, when Sirius finally stopped screaming. "What can I possibly do for a Werewolf that murders students in cold blood?" Sirius bit his lip, screamed at him, then dragged Hermione out of the room.

.

Sirius had swung back on himself twice before Hermione realised what he was doing. A moment later he was in the room or Requirements, flicking open a wardrobe and stepping through into another room; yanking Hermione up when she stumbled, he dragged her, off her feet, down a flight of stairs.

.

"Mother!" He snarled, casting spells that sent the the scant ornaments crashing to the floor. "Mother! Where are you!?"

.

"What's wrong?" A tall blond wizard demanded, stalking out of the Drawing Room. "Is that your Russian bride?"

"_I want you to help me_!" Sirius screamed at him, trying to pull Hermione back onto her feet. "_You have to help me!_"

"Get a grip on yourself." The other wizard warned him, coming forward and helping Hermione stand as well. "She speaks no English, Sirius?"

"_Please listen to me_," Sirius begged him. "_My friend, father, is a Werewolf, and they have him, The Ministry! Please help me, father! Please help me get him back!"_

"Right…" Orion Black (presumably) frowned, biting his lip, how Sirius bit at his when he was thinking. "Take your… What is her name, Sirius?"

"_I don't care what her name is_!" Sirius screamed at him, driving Orion's eyebrows up his forehead.

"Sit in the Drawing Room." Orion told him, firmly. "I'll have something calming sent up. I am in a meeting."

"I don't care…!" Orion cut him off with a sharp wave of his wand.

"The Drawing Room, Sirius." He said, firmly.

.

Sirius went silently back up the stairs. He dropped Hermione's wrist when they were again in Grimmauld Place's familiar Drawing Room. Hermione rubbed it, taking a couple of deep breaths before drawing her wand.

.

"Drop it." Sirius growled, his own still in his hand.

"I'm casting a spell on myself." Hermione told him, as calmly as she could. "I looked it up in case… in case of this, I suppose. It will make everything I say Russian."

"Russian?" Sirius asked, uncertainly. Hermione frowned at him, before casting the spell. "…You'll help me get Remus?" Sirius asked her, fearfully. "They'll kill him," he added, "at the Ministry. Torture him and kill him."

"I'll help you get him back." Hermione, tried to say. It sounded very Russian. Sirius looked at her; startled and uncertain. She nodded. "Yes." She said, nodding to illustrate it for him. Sirius covered his eyes with a pale shaking hand.

"Right… Good." He said. "Have a seat. I'll talk to my parents."

.

Sirius sat down next to her, trying hard to calm down. Kreacher arrived with cups of a sinister looking green beverage, that gave off a pink rose scented steam. Much to Hermione's surprise Sirius actually drank his, lacing it with a lot of sugar.

.

He did seem to have calmed down by the time his father re-appeared, sweeping into the room in long green robes. Sirius stood, at once, and uncertainly Hermione followed his example. Orion stopped in front of them, considering them both, before he embraced Sirius, non-commitally. "I feel like I should be apologising for your behaviour already." He pointed out. "Will you introduce us, Sirius, please."

"Where's mother?" Sirius asked, anxiously.

"Alphard had a fall. Introductions, Sirius, and then you can tell me about your Werewolf problem."

"Alright. My father, Orion Black. Father this is… Karkarof…"

"Victoria Krum." Hermione said, firmly. Orion Black embraced her politely.

"We will get an interpretor." He said, to Sirius. "There are translation spells. Please tell me you know enough Russian to explain this to her."

"I don't know Russian." Sirius dismissed it, sitting Hermione down. "Father. There was a Werewolf in the school…"

"_There was a Werewolf in Hogwarts?_" Orion interrupted him at once. "Surely you don't need to study actual Werewolves?"

"No… Whatever. Father, the Werewolf is my friend and he has been taken by The Ministry."

.

Orion closed his eyes for a moment. "The Werewolf is your friend?" He clarified finally, forcing a smile as he glanced at Hermione.

"Does it matter?" Sirius snapped. "Father, either you help me or I leave."

"Sirius, leaving is your favourite thing." Orion said, unconcerned. "How about, I help you, and you stop trying to embarrass your family at every opportunity you can get."

"I will." Sirius swore at once. "I promise. Please help me, father."

.

"No more fighting."

"No."

"You're getting married."

"Yes."

"How far along is she?"

"…Far along what?" Sirius asked, uneasily. Orion stroked his clean shaven jaw, thoughtfully. He looked over Hermione, carefully. She was, Hermione realised, wearing her pyjamas. Placing her hand over her stomach she said 'baby?' pleased the Russian word was so obviously recognisable.

.

"Oh! Far along with… the baby." Sirius said, peering at her flat stomach carefully. "Just… You know.

"Three months." Hermione said. "I am very embarrassed." This, unfortunately, did not translate at all, so she did her best to mime 'shame'.

"Yes, enough." Orion said, at once. "How can you… She is _Russian_, Sirius. My God, you choose to do some random things."

"Father, the Werewolf."

"Indeed. Very well. Does it have a name?"

"Remus Lupin."

"Ah, it has a comedy name. I'll see what I can find out. Can you manage to stay here and be civil to you mother?"

"Yes, of course… Thank you, father." Sirius added. Orion raised his eyebrows, giving Sirius another look, inclined his head to Hermione and went out.

.

"Victoria Krum?" Sirius asked, going to the window to watch his father leave. Hermione removed the spell on her voice.

"…I knew a boy called Victor Krum. He was Bavarian though." Sirius nodded, putting a finger to his lips before shouting at the door.

"Kreacher! Find my mother and tell her I'm home!"

"The Mistress has gone to Master Alphards." The house elf said, pushing the door open at once.

"Don't address me." Sirius snapped. "Do as I order!"

"Yes, master." The house elf said. Sirius listened for the sound of disapperition, before he turned back to her.

.

"Thank you." He said, at once, to Hermione. "Thank you, Hermione. I will do… whatever you want, for this. Please keep doing what you are doing, for now…" He threw a handful of floo powder from the mantelpiece into the fire, watching it blaze green. "…Vlad Karkarof!" He called, glancing at the door as he waited.

.

"I thought you were disowned!" A disembodied head exclaimed, in a distinctly Eastern European accent.

"Yeah, well. Hard times." Sirius shrugged. "Vlad, you ever heard of the Krums?"

"Sound's like the beginning of one of your excellent English jokes." Vlad laughed. "But I assume you mean the family. Yes?"

"Yes. They've got to be related to you, somehow, right?"

"Yes. Of course. And you, Sirius. Why?"

"Talk to you mother about this, right. I want to marry this girl I've knocked up. I've told my lot she's one of you lot. So, if you go along with it, your family and mine buddy up. That's got to be a good thing, hasn't it?"

"You are hilarious, Sirius!" The other youth laughed.

.

A moment later he crawled through the green flames and stood up; a pale solid looking young man, with a short and elaborately sculpted black beard. He embracing Sirius, kissing his cheeks before peering at her. "She does not look like a Krum." He said, thoughtfully. "But they are pureblood and proud."  
"But dirt poor, I bet." Sirius pointed out. "And if I marry this Krum, they can ask for Cissy, for one of their lot. That'll piss Malfoy off nicely as well. You remember him?"

"Or I could, Sirius." Vlad suggested, suddenly. "I could have your cousin Cissy?"

"If I can have your cousin 'Victoria Very-Russian Krum."

"You cannot call her Victoria!" Vlad laughed at once. "She sounds like your mothers cake gone crumbled, Sirius! Besides my cousin Anna has just called her son Victor Krum."

"Maybe she named him after my Vicky?" Sirius suggested. "Do this for me, yes?" Sirius pleaded, grabbing Vlad's arm. "And ask for Cissy to seal the bonds between our families. I'll do the leg work this end, I'd love to do it to Malfoy, anyway."

"Thank you, Sirius, you are all heart, yes?"

"Yes. Talk to your mother. Tell her my family are desperate for pureblood and yours are desperate to be married into wealth. Tell her about Cissy."

"I'll see what I can do."

"And you can have Cissy." Sirius said, brightly. Vlad laughed, looking over Hermione again, before vanishing into the flames.

.

A moment later he reappeared, making them both jump. "Here!" He said, brightly. Russian gowns and some of my mother's furs!" He said, brightly. "Make her look a little more your Russian princess, yes, Sirius. They were decended from the old royalty, the Krums."

"The Russian Royal family?" Hermione asked. Vlad laughed.

"The _old_ royal family." He said, mysteriously. "And I am Serbian. If you are the cousin of Anna's husband, perhaps, you are Bavarian. This is not Russian. You must be proud of your heritage."

"We're only doing this for a… little while." Hermione said, nervously.

"Pregnant with my baby." Sirius said at once, patting her stomach and winking at Vlad.

"Also." Hermione added. "I have something for you."

"What do you have?" Sirius demanded, in alarm.

"It's a potion." Hermione said, removing a small bottle from her pocket. "Give it to the Anna's Krum's baby, and he will grow into the greatest Quidditch Player in the world."

"Seriously?" Sirius asked. "I die and random Russian baby becomes the Greatest Quidditch Player in the world?"

"Bavarian National Seeker, and greatest player in the world." Hermione said, passing it over."

"She sees the future." Sirius assured him. "If she says it's going to happen, it is."

"Thank you." Vlad said, taking the bottle with a bow.

"It'll only work on the baby." Sirius told him. Vlad laughed.

"You did not think I would drink it myself, did you?" He chuckled. "I'll leave you to dress." And he embraced and kissed Sirius again, and then Hermione.

.

"It was water." Hermione told him. "I always put it in a bottle, because I tend to knock over glasses in my sleep."

"Yes. Just get dressed." Sirius said, no longer pretending to be happy. He went over to the window, frowning at the street while Hermione pulled on the heavy gown and thick gold tipped furs. Sirius forced a smile for her as he looked round.

"That's good." He said. Hermione nodded, bewitching her voice once more.

.

Orion and Walburga returned together. Sirius's mother studied Hermione with interest, flushed now, in the hot furs. "Miss Krum." She said, taking Hermione's hand for a moment.

.

"What have you found out, father?" Sirius demanded, squeezing round them.

"You werewolf is a murderer and a trained wizard, Sirius?" Orion said.

"Only a murdered of a Mudblood." Sirius pointed out at once. "Surely he was doing the world a favour."

"A Halfblood." Orion said. "But hardly an important one. Slighty beside the point, one might consider? A dark beast, trained to use a wand, killing a wizard child with a wizard's wand and a wizard's killing curse, does not sound like a good thing, Sirius."

.

"_We shall discuss it later_." Walburga warned him, as Sirius opened his mouth. "Although, blood is _never_ beside the point."

"Quite, mother." Sirius pointed out. "And you _promised_ you would get me my Werewolf back." He added, panic and anger raising his voice as he glared at Orion.

"You didn't mention it was a wizard killer." Orion pointed out. "Do you not think that is a slightly unsavoury thing, Sirius?"

"_You said you would help me!_"

"It is a dark beast that murders wizards." Orion stated again. "Why would you want such a thing? You have a pregnant wife to consider, Sirius. You have to behave like an adult."

.

"_You help me, father, or I will find someone else who will!_" Sirius snarled, levelling his wand angrily on his father's face.

"Sirius!" Walburga yelled. "Pull yourself together!

"You promised me you would help him!" Sirius shouted. "You said. I am here, aren't I!"

"One more word out of you, and I'll tell your father not to get the bloody thing!" Walburga shouted back at him, furiously. "Now pull your bloody self together!"

"And you'll get him?"

"He has murdered a boy." Orion pointed out.

"But yes." Walburga said, firmly. "Yes, Orion?"

"I don't see how." Orion said. "But we will do what we can."

"_If_…" Walburga added. "You will pull yourself together."

"Thank you." Sirius said, scowling. "That is all I'm asking."

"And you will stay here. We will have a private tutor sit with you while you take your exams. One more word about Werewolves and your father won't arrange it. Where is your fiancé staying?"

"She's not. Her family aren't thrilled about the pregnancy."

"Then we shall speak to them. She's not betrothed to anyone else, or anything painful like that, I hope."

"Igor Karkaroff." Sirius said, at once. "But technically I am betrothed to Cissy."

"No, not anymore you are _not_." Wallaburga said, at once. She glanced at her husband, who shrugged.

"I don't like that Lucius." He pointed out. "We could suggest it to Cyg. Technically Sirius is still betrothed to Cissy. He's not disowned anymore."

"Great. Give Cissy to Igor. Those Russian's love blond hair. That should save us plenty of embarrassment." Sirius said, brightly.

.

"Embarassment you have caused, by getting someone else's fiancé pregnant." Walburga reminded him, icily.

"We are in love, Mother." Sirius pointed out. "And she is a nice pureblood girl. Why must you make me feel bad about everything?" Walburga raised an eyebrow, her lip threatening to curl into a smirk.

.

"You are a petulant creature, Sirius." She assured him. "Fine. Your bride shall stay here. We will have a tutor brought in to teach her English. And you shall take instruction from your father."

"If you wish. As long as…" He paused. Wallburga smiled at him.

"I meant what I said, Sirius." She assured him. "You say that word once, and it's not happening."

"As long as it is happening." Sirius said. "I'll show her where the guest room is."

.

"What _is_ happening?" Hermione demanded, as soon as they were in the guest room, which was the room she had once slept in, in the derelict Grimauld Place of the future.

"Just play along with them." Sirius begged her. "As soon as they have got Remus away from The Ministry, we'll go. I promise."

"Good. _But go where, Sirius_?"

"Away." Sirius assured her.

"Away _where_?" Hermione repeated. "Sirius, Remus is a _murderer_. Dumbledore has just realised that you really did try to murder Snape in your fifth year, and you've walked out of school."

.

"The Potters." Sirius said. "We'll go to the Potters. I've been staying there."

"I'm not sure James is going to be fine with you taking Remus to his parent's house." Hermione pointed out. "He murdered Peter… _He actually murdered Peter, Sirius._"

"For _me_." Sirius pointed out, sweeping his hair angrily off his face. "Shit! Look…" He added, staring at her, rather desperately. "…I loved Little Peter. He was a pratt but, you know, he was _our_ pratt. I wish Remus hadn't done that, but he did it for me and… And _I love him_… I love him and he loves me. You wouldn't understand." He pointed out.

"Actually, I would." Hermione assured him. "I love Ron, Sirius. He's an utter idiot half the time. I wish he was kinder, more sensible, more trusting. He's skinny and he's got a big nose but I _love_ him. So, I _do_ understand, Sirius."

"But I don't love Remus _like that!_" Sirius pointed out, chuckling uncertainly. "That's just… I don't love him like that. I just… I really, really, love him. And he loves me… He _loves_ me… _That's why he did this_. To change my horrible future… But the Ministry will kill him… They need Werewolves to make an example of… I need to go and talk to my father again."

"No, you don't." Hermione assured him. "Your parents are going to get Remus, if they can. You need to find out if you can take Remus to the Potters. At the moment, Sirius… I don't know what to do. Peter isn't going to betray James and Lily. They're not going to die but neither is Voldemort. The whole future has changed, massively. I can't even begin to imagine what will happen."

"Who knows. It's the future." Sirius pointed out. "It's hasn't happened yet."

"But it has, for me." Hermione pointed out. "My life is in the future, Sirius. Despite what Peter did, Voldemort _was_ defeated and we did win… Now I don't know if we will."  
"Well, now you're no worse off than the rest of us." Sirius pointed out. "I've always thought it's easier not to know what the future holds."

"The whole future has changed because…"

"_I don't care!_" Sirius interrupted her. "Peter is dead. There is _nothing_ I can do about it. James's life is saved. _You didn't even tell me he was going to die because of Peter_."

"I told Remus." Hermione said, wearily. "Peter got James and Lily killed as well as getting you put in Azkaban."

"But not anymore."

"But now… anything could happen." Hermione pointed out. "I am trapped here. Peter's… Poor Peter. He wasn't going to do anything. I'm sure he wasn't."

"It's too late. Do you know what they do to Werewolves that murder wizards?"

"Your father will rescue him." Hermione said, trying to sound confident about it.

"They'll make an example of him." Sirius whispered. "The Werewolves are helping Voldemort. They keep attacking wizard families. They will torture him. I know they will. Are now…" And he stalked out to speak to his father again.

.

.

Orion Black was in his office when they let themselves in. He gestured to seats across his desk, finishing a letter. "…Well?" He asked

"Father, _are_ you going to be able to help him?" Sirius said, calmly. "I need to know."

"I don't know." Orion sighed, stroking his short beard. "I'd love to tell you yes, but there have been so many Werewolf attacks on wizards recently. Your Werewolf killed a seventeen year old boy, Sirius. Can you imagine how we would feel if a Werewolf had murdered you or Reggie?"

"Peter's parents are nobodies." Sirius pointed out, at once. "His father's a Muggle and his mother is a blood traitor."

"His mother is Joseph Rosier's daughter, Sirius. This Werewolf murdered a boy, in cold blood."

"But you promised me!" Sirius said, his voice rising at once. Orion rubbed his eyes, pressing the palms into the sockets.

"I promised I would do what I can."  
"Which is not much!" Sirius said, angrily. "What are you doing!?"

"Let's not shout in front of your poor bride, Sirius. I cannot imagine how alarming it must be to have you screeching like a drunk Muggle, in a language she doesn't understand. She has shamed herself and her family for you, Sirius."

"I don't care!" Sirius shouted, angrily. "I want… I want…"  
"You want a good hiding." Orion assured him.

"I want you to get Remus." Sirius said, as calmly as he could.

.

"Sirius, what do you even want a Werewolf for?" Orion demanded. "It's a dangerous thing to have around a family. They are fierce wild creatures and dangerously cunning. You are going to have a baby to care for in a matter of months. A tiny new born baby… _Dear God_." He added, looking over Sirius in genuine horror. "You are to stay here." He added, suddenly. "Sirius, you are to stay here when the baby is born. Your wife is to stay here, with the baby, do you understand me? You _cannot_ behave like this around a baby."

.

"Yes, that's fine." Sirius assured him. "I don't care about that. I care… I want you to get my Werewolf."

"If you are this desperate…" Orion sighed. "I will get a Werewolf for you. But you will see they are truly dark things, Sirius. Wizard-killers with near-human intelligence. Do you understand how dangerous that makes them? They look like a man, they talk like a man, and then they turn into a beast and try to kill you..."

"I don't want a Werewolf!" Sirius interrupted him in alarm. "I want Remus! I want _my _Werewolf. You have to get that one, father! You don't understand!"

"No, I don't understand, Sirius." Orion assured him, calmly. "And you are doing a very poor job of explaining to me. It killed an innocent boy, your age. Please see reason about the Werewolf. I have to deal with a lot of these creatures. Lord Voldemort finds them very useful. They kill children, as you have whitnessed, first-hand.

.

'When your child is born, Sirius, you will understand, I pray, how much a father loves their child, and you will do what you can to keep your own child safe from such monsters."

.

Sirius blinked at him, silently. Hermione watched, nervously. Orion frowned. "Sirius?" He asked. "You will put this idea out of your head?"

"…You can't help me." Sirius concluded, looking at Orion with his cold silver eyes. He grabbed Hermione's wrist and hauled her back out of the office, shouting for his mother.

.

"I am not a dog to be screeched for, Sirius." Walburga assured him, crossly.

"Well, I'm desperate." Sirius snapped. "Tell me where the Dark Lord is. I'm going to talk to him."

"Sirius, you can't!" Hermione exclaimed, the words coming out in incomprehensible Russian.

"Sirius, that is not a good idea." Walburga pointed out, wetting her lips, nervously.

"I don't care." Sirius assured her angrily. "I know what they're doing."

"…Who?" Walburga asked, baffled.

"The Ministry!" Sirius shouted at her. "I know what they do to Werewolves, to make them talk! To tell where the rest of their packs are! I bet you know where he is, you whore!"

.

Walburga slapped him, hard, across the face. "Fine!" Sirius spat at her. "Have it your way!" And he shoved her down the stairwell, kicked the door in, to his mother's bedroom and threw a handful of glittering floo powder into her fire's smouldering embers.

.

"Tom Riddle!" He shouted, into the green flames, and dragged Hermione into them.

.

.

.

Violently they spun around, before being flung out into a high ceilinged white room.

.

This was not the reborn Voldemort of the future, but Tom Riddle, tall, handsome, black hair streaked with grey. It was hard to say what he had been doing, meditating perhaps, as he was sat in a high-backed throne of a chair, studying them with dark, red-rimmed eyes, that made him look like he'd been weeping or was very tired.

.

"You're Tom Riddle?" Sirius asked, at once. Riddle blinked, considering this.

"…It's not a name I go by." He said. He had a high voice, with a distinct hint of cockney, very different from Sirius's haughty pureblood accent.

"Lord Voldemort." Sirius said. It was not obvious if he was being polite or mocking and Hermione snatched a quick glanced at him. Riddle wet his lips, considering.

"And you are Sirius." He said, in his quiet, high voice. "Walburga's son."

"Yes, I am." Sirius agreed. "And I want your help."

.

Riddle's dark eyes creased, lips quirking into an amused smile. "Right." He said, his sore eyes roamed over Sirius, ceaselessly. They did look horribly alike. Both tall and slim, with the same pale complexion, same thick black hair, same handsome faces, same elegance to them.

.

"You want my help." Riddle repeated. "How can I help you, Sirius?"

"I want you to take a Werewolf that has been arrested for murdering the son of a Muggle and a Blood-traitor, and give him to me."

.

The red-rimmed eyes blinked, thoughtfully. Riddle finally moved his attention to appraise Hermione for a moment, before turning back once more to Sirius. "Alright." He said. "I will." Sirius watched him, carefully before he nodded.

"…Thank you." He said. Riddle smiled, amused. He rolled up his sleeve, carefully placing the tip of his wand to the snake and skull brand on his forearm.

.

Immediately wizards began to apparate into the white room. None had wasted time on masks. Hermione recognised a very young Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, and then _both_ the younger Black sisters. Some of the other younger faces were recognisable but unnameable. Hermione felt herself automatically move against Sirius's side, although he was in no way alarmed, watching with a calm fascination.

.

"The Werewolf boy in the Ministry." Riddle said, in his high voice. "Bring him here, immediately, by any means. _Go_!"

.

Seconds later the room was again empty. Riddle tilted his head, and smiled at Sirius, tapping his wand against the arm of his throne. None of them spoke. They all waited as the minutes stretched.

.

Equally suddenly the Deatheater's returned. Three of them, apparating back, the eldest immediately throwing Remus down onto the floor at Voldemort's feet, before wiping his hands of blood, to bow.

.

Riddle's smile was undeniably amused. "How very prompt." He said. "How hard was that?"

"Fast and efficient, My Lord." The man said, politely. "They weren't expecting it."

"I can imagine." Riddle assured him. "Very good, you are dismissed. With my gratitude."

"Thank you, My Lord." He bowed again, and glanced at his companions, conveying that they were to leave.

.

"…There you go." Riddle lifted a pale hand to gesture to the bloody and sunken figure.

"Thank you." Sirius said, watching Riddle uncertainly. Riddle smiled.

"My pleasure, Sirius. Urgent medical treatment, I would suggest. I hope I shall see you soon."

"Yes. If you want." Sirius said, quickly, before slipping across the room, and kneeling to lift Remus's head. "Thank you." He said, again, before reaching back for Hermione's hand and disapparating to his own backyard.

.

.

.

It was not obvious what the Ministry had been trying to do to Remus. He was very badly cut and looked like he had been hit many times, and burnt with something like a hot strip of metal. And he was unconscious, and stayed unconscious as Sirius levitated him, badly, into the house. Hermione opened the doors for him, but they didn't speak until Sirius had dropped Remus onto his bed, when he told Hermione to run down the stairs and get boiled water and towels.

.

Sirius was a skilled wizard, raised to use his magic since earliest childhood. He had devoted much of his teenage years to mastering healing spells, to try and help Remus through the full moons. Hermione had yet to see him like this, completely focused and impossibly skilful; rebuilding the wefts of damaged tissue and skin over the tapestry of cuts and burns. Hermione stood and watched, with her towels and water.

.

She used her own wand to heat the water to boiling, then cool it again, still just watching Sirius working, with more skill than any healer she had ever seen. He paused when Remus regained consciousness, taking his bloody hand with a couple of words of reassurance, before starting again.

.

"…Sirius. The blood." Remus forced hoarsely from his throat, eventually. "It could be infectious… Be careful."

"It's not." Sirius said, picking Remus's hand up and licking his arm, before carrying on with his spell work. Hermione used the towels and warm water to wash the dirt and dried blood away from his healed skin.

.

"…You got me." Remus rasped, later.

"Of course I did." Sirius said, flashing him a smug grin. "Do you really have so little faith in me?"

"…Though I was going to die." Remus groaned, finally well enough to try and draw his blistered arm away from Sirius's hissing wand-tip.

"You'll be fine." Sirius assured him. "Keep still, Moons. You're going to be fine."

"Maybe Essence of Dittany?" Hermione suggested, although she couldn't see it really doing anything Sirius's spells weren't.

"Something for the pain." Remus muttered, moving his arm across his stomach, which was covered in livid red bruising.

"No. It's better if you can tell me where it hurts." Sirius pointed out, grimacing as he saw the tattered skin of Remus' back. "Keep as still as you can. I'm going to kill the people that did this, Moony. Find them and actually kill them… Like this." Remus ignored him, lifting a bare arm to cover his face as Sirius's wand flashed and hissed, against the torn ribbons of skin.

.

"I killed Little Peter." He whispered, from beneath his arm.

"I know." Sirius assured him, stroking his matted hair.

"He would rather be dead than grow up to betray us." Remus rasped. "But… But…"

"Yeah. Better not to talk, Moony." Sirius pointed out. "I'm trying to concentrate here."

"I had to." Remus whispered. "I had to, Pads, because I… I do, you know… I said, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you said." Sirius chuckled, putting his wand down for a moment. "Safe now, Moony." He added. "I'll kill anyone that tries to hurt you. I swear."

.

"Where are we?" Remus hissed, without lifting his hand again. Sirius carried on raking his fingers through Remus's hair.

"…Mine." He said, eventually. "Dumbledore wouldn't help you."

"He didn't try to help you." Remus assured him. "We need Hermione's book."

"Which book?" Sirius asked; glancing at Hermione, who was still hovering with her damp towel.

"She's writing down everything she remembers. It's important. Vital, maybe."

"It's at school." Hermione said. "You read it, Remus?"

"Of course." Remus whispered. "Sorry, but you have seen the future… Too important."

"Dumbledore told me to write it down." Hermione told Sirius. She looked down at Remus' horrific torn back. "…What you did was terrible." She added. "Peter wasn't going to do it."

"Yes, he was." Remus said, quietly. "You wish he wasn't because he was nice, but Voldemort has ways to manipulate people, it's what he does… Fear, charity, personal gain, he uses whatever he thinks will make people his, and then he uses them for his own gain…" His hoarse voice, vanished to a rasping hiss, and Sirius filled a cup with water, sitting on the bed to spill it over his lips.

.

"Shit. Sorry." Sirius laughed. "I'm not much of a nursemaid, Moons."

"No. You're not." Remus whispered, pushing the cup away. "I had to, Hermione." He added. "You should have. But you're a girl. You wanted to make him better but you know what he was going to do. Maybe Voldemort took his mum… Peter would have done anything to keep his mum safe."

.

"You shouldn't have killed him." Hermione said, voice rising as she stared down at Remus, torn and bloody on the bed.

"Shut up, Granger." Sirius growled, stroking Remus's filthy hair again.

"I had to." Remus whispered, with the same confidence.

"You shouldn't have killed him." Hermione repeated. "Maybe you'd do anything to keep your mum safe, Remus. Maybe Sirius would. We had to look out for Peter. What you did, makes you no better than them."

"I never was better than them." Remus pointed out. "I am a Werewolf."

"You're better than _anyone_." Sirius swore, kneeling down to force Remus to meet his wide grey eyes. "_Moony. YOU ARE BETTER THAN ANYONE_." He swore. "Don't _ever_ think you aren't."

"You're a murderer." Hermione said. Remus hadn't lifted his eyes away from Sirius'. He didn't look like he was listening, which he wasn't. He was looking at Sirius's impossibly sincere silver eyes, his smile.

"You are better than _anyone_." Sirius told him again.

"…_I had to keep you safe._" Remus murmured, finally.

"Well…" Sirius's smile broadened into a grin. "I'd like to say I can take care of myself, but twelve years in Azkaban followed by death, suggests otherwise."

"You saved me." Remus pointed out. "They were…" A sharp tap at the door made him silent. Sirius got off his knees, crossing the room to open it a crack.

.

"Your mother and I wish to speak to you." Orion told him. "At once, Sirius."

"That's fine." Sirius said. Hermione saw he was already holding is wand.

"And your fiancé." Orion added.

"She doesn't speak any English." Sirius pointed out.

"It is not acceptable to leave the mother of your unborn child alone with a Werewolf." Orion said. "I wish that was not something I had to explain to you."

"He's not a wolf at the moment. She's looking after him."

"His blood and saliva is infectious." Orion said, impressively calmly. "Neither of you should be in that room. _It_ should not be in that room, Sirius. Or in this house. Please take yourself and your fiancé to the Drawing Room, at once. Your mother is waiting."

.

Hermione stepped out of the room, watching Sirius cast a locking spell on the door, to prevent his father or anyone going inside. "Shall we, fiancé?" Sirius suggested, tucking his wand away and offering Hermione his hand.

"You do have some manners still, then." His father said, still assuming Hermione couldn't understand them.

.

Walburga was standing by one of the big windows, watching the street outside. "That was a stupid and reckless thing to do." She informed him, as soon as Sirius stepped into the room. Orion shut the door, softly.

"Stupid and reckless come very naturally to me." Sirius pointed out. "And it worked, didn't it?"

"That depends how you define 'worked'." Orion offered.

"Well." Sirius said, dropping Hermione's hand, so he had easy access to his wand. "I wanted you to rescue that Werewolf. And neither of you did. Just like Dumbledore didn't. So I went to someone who could. If I had been a bit stupider and more reckless I might have done it at once and he wouldn't have been barely alive."

"Is he dying?" Walburga asked her husband, brightening slightly.

"No." Orion said. "It didn't look that way." Walburga sighed, looking over Sirius with her pale grey eyes.

.

"Well?" She asked him. "Have you planned ahead? What you might want to do with a fully-grown male Werewolf? One that is trained with a wand and murders wizards?"

"I told you, he's my friend." Sirius said. Hermione, who was starting to know him well, recognised the edge to his tone.

"Apparently the boy he murdered was also his 'friend', Sirius. I have written to Dumbledore, informing him that we will be assisting the Pettigrews in having him fired, for putting that creature in their son's dormitory. We have removed you, obviously, and your brother. You can both have private tuition…"

.

Hermione tried to listen to Walburga's plans, but she was starting to feel too panicked. She had no idea what was going to happen now. Her presence in the past had destroyed the future. What was going to happen? She just had no idea and was increasingly certain that Voldemort's first reign of terror was not going to be stopped.

.

The sun vanished behind a cloud, making the room suddenly darker. Walburga and Sirius was both screeching at each other, increasingly loudly, and Orion was watching, apparently listening to what they were both saying. It took Hermione a surprisingly long time to realise the sun had _not_ gone behind a cloud. There was a rather large piece of paper, blown up against the window, and on it where written three bold words.

_Hermione start screaming_

So, Hermione did. She screamed. Neither Sirius nor his mother noticed. She screamed louder. And then really loudly, as Orion left the door and rushed to take her arm, shouting for quiet.

.

Hermione screamed again as Remus appeared in the doorway, urging her to crank it up. "_Sirius, take off the spell_! _There is a concealment spell!_ _A concealment spell!_" Remus shouted, urgently. Clutching his baggy robes with one hand he bent over Hermione; in effect, pushing her down onto the floor.

.

"A concealment spell?" Orion asked, calmly, although Remus had just plucked Sirius' wand from his hand, muttering a spell that caused Hermione's stomach to swell up like a rapidly inflating balloon.

.

"_Aghhhhhhh_!" Hermione howled, for real now, snatching a fistful of Sirius's shirt.

"Scream louder!" Remus whispered, leaning close to her ear to pass Sirius back his wand. Hermione screamed bloody loudly, trying to snatch hold of his face while frantically trying to loosen the robes, painfully taut around her stomach.

.

As she realised it was her own skin, beneath the loose robes, stretched unbearably, she tipped her head back and let rip, screaming and screaming!

.

She was making so much noise that she didn't really notice Sirius and Remus siently conferring, or Sirius shouting frantically for his mother to get Kreacher and his father to go for a midwife.

.

"They'll be seconds." Sirius said, kneeling beside her again.

"I told Kreacher your father had ordered him out of the house." Remus said, calmly. "Don't stop screaming, Hermione.

"_Give me my waaaaaand!_" Hermione screamed. "_Now!_"

"What are we doing?" Sirius asked, starting to laugh uncontrollably.

"She's having a baby." Remus said. "…That is obvious, isn't it?" He added, worriedly.

"There's no baaaaay-beeeee!" Hermione screamed.

"Be quiet." Remus warned, at once. "There is a baby. I have it beneath my robes."

"_What_?!" Hermione screamed.

"Keep screaming." Remus urged her.

.

_ "You have a baby!?"_ Hermione screamed, uncomprehendingly. "My stomach is going to tear open! It hurts!"

"I'm sorry." Remus called over to her. "I've never done that spell before. It… Try and pass wind. It will… you know, be fine."

.

"A real baby, Moony?" Sirius asked.

"_Where has that come from!?"_ Hermione screamed, trying to sit up, to see the _very_ real looking baby that Remus was carefully lifting from within his robes.

"Out of your girl-bits!" Sirius said, winking at her, before turning back to gingerly take the baby out of Remus' arms.

.

"Hold the head, yes?" Sirius checked.

"I don't know." Remus assured him. "I've been holding all of it."

"_Please tell me that isn't a real baby!_" Hermione screamed, clutching her stomach and howling again.

"It is_ bloody_ real." Sirius said, staring down at it, for a moment, before looking up at Remus with wide eyes. "You robbed a baby off a Muggle?"

"Please tell me you transfigured that out of something!" Hermione screeched, behind his back. Sirius adjusted his grip on the tiny baby, to shelter it from the noise. Remus watched him, fearfully.

"I got it for you." He told Sirius. "To keep you safe. She had to have a baby. You told your parents, remember."

.

"…I actually rather love this baby." Hermione heard Sirius say. She rolled awkwardly onto her hands and knees, managed to reach her wand and deflating her stomach, before trying to remove any transfiguration charms from the baby in Sirius's arms.

.

"_Give me the wand, you idiot!"_ Sirius growled, furiously. "You'll hurt it! Take it off her, Moony. She could hurt the baby."

.

"_You come near me and you're dead_!" Hermione snarled, levelling the wand on Remus' face. "_I mean it! You murdered Peter in cold blood_! Now you've stolen a baby!"

"It's a Muggle baby." Sirius assured her, holding the baby carefully against his chest. "It'll be a squib, but we'll keep it safe, maybe fake some magic for it. People do that, sometimes, for squib children."

.

"_Muggles are human beings too_!" Hermione screeched, wand still pointed at Remus. "You have to take it back, you monster!"

"He's not a monster." Sirius said, at once. "He's a human-being."

"So was Hitler!" Hermione spat at him. "You killed Peter and you stole a baby! You take it back, right now!"

.

"We need to use the speak-Russian spell again." Remus said, impressively calmly. "Or she'll get us all killed. Without Dumbledore's protection, I'm as good as dead. All the werewolves are with Voldemort."

.

"It's still a baby!" Hermione said, trying to be equally calm. "_What have you done?! Take it back! Please!"_

"Its mother might be dead." Sirius pointed out. "…It might be a little orphan baby." He added, stroking its cheek.

"Yeah." Remus agreed. "An orphan."

"_Sirius just made that up_!" Hermione snarled. "_Take it back, or I swear, I'll Imperio you and make you do it!_"

"_Look_." Sirius said, sharply. "I am holding a tiny baby. Have some sense, Hermione. Don't make us fight for your wand."

.

"Give me the wand and I'll take the baby back." Remus said. Sirius didn't say anything, looking down at the baby, sadly. Hermione gave Remus the wand. "…Yeah. I can't take the baby back." Remus added. "It's only just been born and I obliterated their memory of it, so… I can't make them re-remember. Those spells are permanent."

.

"You stole a Muggle woman's baby and obliterated her memory!?" Hermione hissed.

"How is that wrong?" Sirius asked, defensively. "She doesn't know. And my parents would have hit the roof if you hadn't had a baby sooner or later. Did you want me to start frantic attempts to impregnate you? They might have killed you and transfigured your corpse into a teacup, when they realised. They do stuff like that."

"Do they steal babies and murder their friends!?" Hermione demanded. "You have to… _You have to take the baby back and try to explain_."

"Explain what?" Sirius demanded. "_She doesn't remember having a baby! How would that work?"_

"I don't know." Hermione assured them. "But I know you have to try! They could have been trying for that baby their whole lives! My parents had three rounds of IVF before I was born! You cannot steal someone's baby! That is worse than what Voldemort does."

"Actually it's definitely not." Remus said.

"Ivy what?" Sirius asked, keeping tight hold of the baby.

"You have to take it back." Hermione said, again.

"You heard, Moony." Sirius said, firmly. "There isn't anywhere to take it back to. It's ours, to keep."

.

"If Hermione hadn't had a baby…" Remus pointed out, watching Sirius, anxiously….

"They'll be pissed off when they discover the poor blighter's a squib." Sirius cooed, stroking the baby's pink downy cheek. "It hardly weights anything, Moons. Do you think it's a boy or a girl?"

"I've no idea." Remus assured him. "…It already had a nappy on, and I wrapped that blanket around it, in case it got cold. It's still got something gross on its bellybutton and it was born sometime today."

.

Hermione didn't say anything else. Like Remus, she was staring at the new-born baby in Sirius' arms. She knew Obliviate spells were _forever_. That was what made them so safe. But surely they still had to take the baby back. There were other spells they might be able to do. She tried to think of some, watching Sirius stroking the baby's nose to make it open its mouth, and its cheeks to make it turn its head.

.

"…We could leave the baby in a basket on the doorstep." She said. "She must remember being pregnant; something."

"But it's pouring with rain." Sirius nodded to the window. "And I won't."

"…And knock on the door." Hermione said. "If they've wanted a baby forever, they'll take it in. They might know, in some part of their hearts, that she's still their baby."

"Or 'he'." Sirius said. "I want to look, but I don't want to make her cry. My parents are going to be happier with a boy, until he turns out to be a squib, then they're going to be more annoyed."

"It doesn't matter." Remus assured him. "It's a baby. It'll do. And you can get the hell away from here, before it's a child, Sirius."

"_With_ the baby?" Sirius asked, at once.

.

Remus considered this, uncertainly. "What… do you mean?" He asked. "With the baby, what?"

"I don't want to leave a _baby_ with my parents." Sirius said, firmly.

"Oh." Remus said, sounding anything but comprehending. "Oh… Okay. Yes, whatever you want… I got that baby for you, Sirius." He added, as he realised that Sirius was staring at down at the baby as if it was the best present he'd ever been given. Remus swept a hand through his dirty hair, watching Sirous stroking the baby's cheek again. "…You told your parents that Hermione was pregnant." He added. "That's why they were willing to re-own you. That's why they're okay. And you haven't got anywhere else to go. So, this will make you safe."

"_Yet_." Sirius said. "We are seventeen, Moony. We _are_ adults."

.

"Dumbledore..." Hermione began.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Sirius snapped. "He _left you to die, Moons_." Sirius snapped. "He doesn't deserve _you_ risking your life with the Werewolves."

"No… I really expected to be dead, by now." Remus pointed out. "I haven't got anywhere to go, Sirius."

"Not yet." Sirius reminded him. "But we'll play along with my family, until we know what to do. And then we'll get away… _Together, _Moony…? You do mean _together_, don't you?"

"We'll go together?" Remus asked, uncertainly enough to make Sirius grin.

"Yeah_, together_." He said, more confidently. "Just… yeah. Together, no matter what. Oh, and I want to take this baby too."

"Oh, yeah. Of course you can. It's your baby, Pads." Remus assured him, trying not to smile stupidly at Sirius. "I got it for you." He stated again. "…So your parents would forgive you and you'd be safe."

"And I _love_ it!" Sirius informed him. "I actually… because it's so small and…" He smiled, peering down at the babies face. "We'll go together." He said firmly. "_With my baby_. This is the best thing anyone has ever given me."

"And get Hermione back to her own time." Remus added. They both looked up at her.

.

"That is a human baby." Hermione said, as calmly as she could manage. "That Remus _stole_, Sirius. I am going to tell your parents what you've done, and they are going to take it back." Sirius laughed.

"You seriously don't know what my parents are like." He assured her. "Why would they take a Muggle baby back to parents that don't know it exists. You'd be lucky if they bothered to chuck it in an orphanage. They'd probably send it to Voldemort, to play with."

"You seem to like Voldemort a lot more than your parents do, Sirius." Hermione pointed out, as calmly as she could. "That is a _baby_. It is not some great Birthday present that Remus has given you. He's a baby-thief and a murderer!"

.

"That baby…" Remus said, when Sirius completely ignored her, and started stroking the babies cheek again. "I _had _to get a baby." Remus pointed out. "You aren't pregnant and Sirius has told them you are. The Blacks are really powerful and dangerous. I was keeping you safe as well. But, if it makes you feel better, the woman I got the baby from had children already and the baby was a twin, so she's not heartbroken or anything. She just thinks she only had one baby, like most people do. She's never going to remember this one, so… But she is _really happy_, Hermione. I did it on purpose, like that, because it was a twin. I'm not trying to hurt anyone. You don't know what the Blacks are capable of. If they found out you were a Muggle-born, British wizard, I don't know if they'd be angrier you pretended you were pregnant with his child or that you weren't. But you'd be lucky if they didn't kill you. I'm going to put the spell back on you, so your words come out in Russian. Have you got anything else you want to say, first?"

"_Please take the baby back. Explain to the woman_."

"I can't." Remus assured her. "She's happy. We're safe." He raised the wand and cast the spell, rendering her unable to communicate with any of them.

.

"Keep her wand." Sirius said, at once, looking over at Hermione warily. Remus slipped it into his robes, coming over to look at the baby as well.

"I actually love it." Sirius told him, quietly. "It's tiny and… I love its face."

"It's got brown eyes." Remus said. "And it's mother was ginger."

"See, Hermione." Sirius said, frowning over at her. "Remus chose the most unsuitable baby, because it was a twin, specifically so he wasn't hurting anyone, even though it doesn't look like either of us."

"I have brown eyes." Hermione said, although neither she nor the two boys could understand her.

.

Sirius carefully jiggled the baby up against his collar and loosened the blanket, peering at the babies downy head. "It's so warm and soft." He said, brushing the baby's skin with his lips. "And it smells nice, Moony."

"Like the inside of a lady." Remus said, with a hint of a grin. Sirius laughed.

"You are _disgusting_!" He exclaimed in shock, the noise made the baby fling out its arms. "Shush, Moony!" He added at once. "It's frightening for him."

"You better find out if it is a him or a her." Remus pointed out. "That sounds like one of your parents back, and we should hide the nappy and blanket."

"Good point." Sirius agreed, laying the baby nervously on the green couch and unwrapping it.

.

"It is a boy." He said, pleased. "He wrapped the baby in Hermione's discarded fur sole and held it in his arms, while he transfigured the blanket and nappy to dust and brushed it under the sofa.

.

"Oh mother of Merlin!" Walburga gasped, hands convulsing into fists as she froze in the doorway. "Give it up to me, this minute, Sirius!"

"No. It's my baby." Sirius snatched the baby more firmly up into his arms. "It's not your baby, mother!"

"Be gentle, Sirius!" Walburga begged. "Sweet Mother of Merlin… Alright. Alright, Sirius, give the baby back to its mother then."

.

Sirius looked across the room at Hermione suspiciously. "…No." He concluded. "She is still in shock, and the likes. I am fine."

"Give me that baby, Sirius." Walburga warned him. "I am deathly serious. That is a human being. Pass it very gently to me, and get that _thing_ out of my Drawing Room."

.

Remus left at once. Sirius turned back to his mother with a smirk. "My Werewolf is perfectly safe." He pointed out. "I saved his life."

"I am not having a Werewolf in my house, Sirius." His mother warned him. "Give me the baby, I need to make sure it's alright. You could hurt it, Sirius."

"Why would I hurt my own baby!?" Sirius demanded. "I love this baby, mother."

"You may be holding it too tight." Walburga wailed. "Sirius, the midwife must check it over."

"Then I will let the midwife do that when the midwife arrives." Sirius pointed out.

"And it should be with its mother." Walburga added, firmly. "I mean it, Sirius. A baby must be with its mother. We are not Muggles. Give it back to her, at once."

.

Sirius carried the baby across the room, looking down at Hermione with icey grey eyes. "_You do anything to him, and I'll kill you slowly_." He growled, putting the baby carefully in her arms and kissing the top of her head. "Well done you!" He added, more loudly. Walburga's muscle-locked face relaxed slightly and she clasped her hands together.

.

"…You have a baby." She said, suddenly. "Dear Merlin… I am a grandmother. Before Druella, as well."

"Unless you count Dromeda's baby." Sirius pointed out.

"Which I don't." His mother said, her lips quirking into an amused frown. "You have a son, Sirius… Do you have a son?"

"Yes, I do actually." Sirius said, smugly. Wallburga clapped her hands, going back to Hermione to look down at the baby again.

.

"He is a beauty." She said, softly. "Well done, dear girl. He has your eyes." She added, putting a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "You brave, brave girl. Our midwife will be here, any minute. I will leave you with Sirius and get you some tea. Well done, you good brave girl."

"She doesn't understand you, mother." Sirius pointed out. "And she made a right fuss."

"Indeed, Sirius. Why don't you clench a fist and see if you can't come up with a cunning way to estimate what childbirth feels like." She said, tartly. "Now, come and look after her, while I make some tea and crumpets. That house elf belongs on the wall. And _don't_, and I mean it, Sirius, _don't take that baby off her again_."

.

The silence stretched after Walburga had gone. Hermione could only speak in Russian and Remus still had her wand. And she had a baby in her arms, briefly, before Sirius scooped it up again, holding it against his cheek as he paced the room.

.

He went over to the door, carefully covering the baby's ears before calling Remus, who slipped silently back into the room. "Stay in my room." Sirius told him, absently stroking the baby with his finger. Try and find a spell that will make Hermione lactate."

"Yeah… or… get it those little bottles with tops on, like Muggles have."

"Oh yeah, that would be good, then we can feed him. We can say Hermione can't do it. She looks like she might not be able to."

.

"_That's because I haven't had a baby_!" Hermione pointed out, frantically. "_You stole that baby_!" But the words came out as a string of unrecognisable sounds.

.

"…I can feed him with a little bottle." Sirius pointed out.

"Hermione won't hurt a baby." Remus assured him. "She's just angry with me." For which Sirius flashed Hermione a glare. Remus looked down at the baby as well, before touching Sirius's hand, where he was holding it, and going quickly back up the stairs.

.

Walburga came back and took them through to the Spare Room, helping Hermione up onto the bed before serving her with a tray of crumpets, tea and fruit. She summond a little wooden crib to sit beside her, telling her that it had been Sirius' and his little brothers, as she quickly dressed the baby in a cloth nappy and a long white dress, and laid it down in the crib, setting it rocking with her wand.

.

"…Tell me honestly, Sirius." She said, frowning at him. "Do you think she wishes you to stay with her?"  
"Definitely, mother!" Sirius exclaimed. "How hurtful you are. And my baby wants me here as well."

"Please don't touch the baby, Sirius." Walburga begged him, finally. "Sirius, my beloved son, tell me honestly, have you ever owned anything you have not had call to smash, break or throw across a room? Anything, ever?"

"I'm not going to throw my own baby across a room." Sirius pointed out, frostily. "And it's not up to you, because he's _my_ baby."

"He's my grandson, Sirius." Walburga assured him. "And the heir of this house."

.

"Father's not going to be funny about me having a son before Reggie, is he?" Sirius asked, abruptly.

"No." Walburga said. "No, _of course not_, Sirius. Your father loves you. Put that worry out of your mind. Look after your fiancé, Sirius. She needs all the love and support you are capable of giving her."

.

"We have to get this baby back to its family." Hermione said.

"I can't understand you because you're speaking Russian." Sirius reminded her, peering into the crib. "…He's sleeping. He looks utterly adorable."

"Use your wand so I can speak to you in English." Hermione told him.

"I can't understand you." Sirius said, sighing happily. He looked up, obviously hearing Remus before he slipped back into the room.

"_I love you_." Sirius told him, jumping up at once and snatching Remus into an embrace. "I love you _even more than usual_."

.

Remus gave him an uncertain smile.

"Thanks." He said. "…It had to be done."

"He's brilliant." Sirius said, happily. "Look at his face when he's sleeping, Moony… Come see. It's the best thing ever." He tugged Remus over to the bed, climbing onto it so he could peer into the other side of the cot, and gauge Remus's reaction, which was a 'polite' smile.

"Yeah. It's working, isn't it." Remus agreed. "We need to do something about the eyes."

"My mother's already seen them. She said they're Hermione's eyes." They both peered at Hermione for a moment.

"Yeah. Good." Remus agreed.

"He is really beautiful." Sirius added. Remus looked back at Sirius, his lips breaking into an uncontrollable smile as he watched the other boys face.

.

"I just love him." Sirius tried to explain, seeing he was being laughed at. "He's so tiny, and he's mine."

"_He's not yours!_" Hermione shouted, in Russian.

"Maybe we should put a glamour spell on him, so he looks like you?" Remus suggested.

.

"And I bet you've already researched that, haven't you?" Hermione said, bitterly, in Russian.

"I love how he looks. But we'll do something about his hair, if it looks like it's going to be ginger, poor thing." Sirius said. "I can change hair any colour of the rainbow. Just ask Snivelus."

"We'll do it black, like yours." Remus said. "He has to look a bit like you."

"He will." Sirius said, earnestly. "He'll smile like me. People always say I have my father's smile. You inherit your smile from the people who smile at you most."

"He'll be alright then." Remus pointed out. Sirius flashed him a grin, across the crib.

"Thanks." He said. "And I'll fake magic for him, so he can go to Hogwarts. It's not like we can't get a wand for him."

"He's a wizard's baby." Remus told him, laughing. "So, I don't think you'll need to. I didn't even think of getting a Muggle baby, because of what you're family are like. I assumed you'd leave it here, when you left."

"Seriously?" Sirius asked him.

"Siriusly." Remus nodded, and Sirius giggled.

"I love that baby." Sirius told him. "I am never letting it out of my… _It's a wizard's baby_?!"

"_Yes_." Remus assured him. "Pureblood. Hermione has written down everything she can remember about the future, for Dumbledore. Peter didn't accidentally land you in prison. He went over to Voldedmort; betraying all of us, through 1980 and most of '81. He got the Prewet's murdered, and then… He got James and Lily Evans killed and framed you for their murder. He killed some Muggles as well. Then he stopped you being proven innocent, in the future, and resurrected Voldemort from the dead, and murdered a son Diggory has in the future."

.

"Are you sure?" Sirius whispered.

"Very." Remus said. "I told you, I had to do it, Pads. He was my best friend. But he was going to betray you, terribly."

"And James." Sirius pointed out. "James… He doesn't die now? Because of what you did?" Remus smiled in relief. He shook his head.

"No." He said. "He's safe." Sirius got off the bed to hug him again.

"I love you _so much_, Moony." He whispered, clutching him tightly. "I really actually do, you know, love you _so much_. I can't explain how much I love you, not without sounding very gay."

"I love you." Remus assured him.

"_Not without sounding very gay_?!" Hermione repeated in Russian.

.

"In Hermione's book…" Remus continued, ignoring her. "She said Gideon's little sister had twins. She remembered that they were born on April the first, 1978, because they liked playing tricks and that's April Fool's Day."  
"_Today_." Sirius said.

"Exactly. So I dragged myself out of bed, as soon as I realised the date." Remus assured him. "He is a wizard, Sirius. He is a pureblood wizard."

"Gideon's sister. And she has his twin?"

"Molly Weasley. She married Arthur Weasley, remember? They've got three boys already. She actually said she was relieved it wasn't twins; said they had precious little money to treat the children they've got, and twins run in her family…"

.

He broke off as Hermione fell out of bed, behind them, staggering over to the crib.

.

"_Which one is it?!" _She demanded hysterically, in Russian.

"Which what? Which… twin?" Remus asked her. "The boy one, obviously. George, was it?"

"_They were both boys_!" Hermione screamed, frantically. "_Take him back! Tell Molly! Tell Arthur_!"

"Shut up!" Sirius warned her. "Stop shouting names. My mother knows these people. She'll murder you, if she realises!

.

"So my baby _is_ a wizard, Moony?" Sirius checked. "Hey, it is pretty much _guaranteed_ to be ginger with those two families!"

"We'll use a spell on his hair." Remus reminded him. "And he has Hermione's eyes."

"Yes." Sirius nodded, watching Hermione tearing at her frizzy hair for a moment before smiling at the baby again. "I love him." He said. "I'm going to call him James."

.

"James Black." Remus said. Sirius grinned at him. He let go of the baby's little fist to hug him again.

"I love you, so much, Moony." He assured him. "We'll escape, together, with my baby."

.

.

.

Hermione crept back to the crib, staring down at the baby, asleep in its long white dress. There was no way of knowing if it was Fred or George, but she was actually pretty certain it was one of them. Sirius and Remus were still holding each other. With a wistful look at Sirius's wand, definitely unreachable, she scooped up the baby and ran.

.

Remus, with his fast Werewolf reflexes, almost had her at the door, but Sirius' screech of caution stopped him snatching for her, and Hermione fled, running down a flight of stairs before she found herself facing Orion.

.

"_Just stop_!" Sirius screamed, frantically. "_Please!_"

"_Sirius_!" Orion shouted, in alarm, reaching out for her. Hermione fell backwards, trying to keep the baby from harm.

"_Be careful_!" Sirius screamed.

"Back off, Sirius!" Orion shouted back. Hermione lunged past him, tangling in her long robes and falling, unable to reach out without losing hold of the tiny baby, she fell against the stair rail, which broke. The horror of what she had done seemed to last for a vast length of time, before she hit the floor, and everything went black.

.

.

.

"You'll be fine." Sirius told her, peering into her face.

"_George_." Hermione whispered.

"It's Sirius." Sirius told her. "And you're alright."

"_The baby_." Hermione said.

"I think she's asking about the baby." Remus suggested.

"Moony saved him." Sirius told her. "He's fine. Arcturus James Black. Your son."

"_He's alright_?" Hermione whispered, bursting into tears. "_The baby's alright_."

"He's fine because Moony saved him." Sirius said, brightly. "I'll get him to show you. He's not asleep."

"I would have saved you too." Remus told her, hanging over the bed in Sirius' place, but I had to support all of the baby, it's head and it's body."

.

"Arc." Sirius said, holding the baby out for her to see. "You were rather hysterical." He added. "So we doped you up. My mother thought it would do you good to get some rest."

"_How long have I been asleep_?" Hermione slurred. She watched them exchange bemused glances.

"…Arc is ace." Sirius said, and vanished off the bed again.

"_Am I still speaking Russian_?" Hermione added, uncertainly.

"Russian?" Remus asked. "Yes. Walburga's only downstairs, you have to stay speaking Russian. You nearly killed the baby, Hermione."

"_I know_." Hermione whispered. "…_Well done, for saving him. But you have to take him back to Molly and Arthur, and Fred_."

.

"Tell her not to say names!" Sirius hissed across the room. "Tell her to put on the Russian dress, and we'll go down, if she feels up to it."

"I don't know what she's saying either." Remus pointed out. "Do… You... Hermione... Feel... Better?"

"Nod your head." Sirius offered, coming back with the baby slung on his shoulder.

"And we should go out while Hermione gets dressed," Remus pointed out, helpfully. "You should leave Arc here, Pads, so Hermione can carry him."

"I'm carrying him." Sirius said, scowling at once. "He's not her baby."

"Officially he is." Remus pointed out. "And we need to keep your mother happy."

"I don't give an arse about my mother." Sirius said, pouting. Remus smiled at him.

"Fine." He said. "But… Leave the baby in its crib for a minute, so I can have a word with you."

"About what?" Sirius said, tartly. Remus considered it.

"…Just in private." He muttered. "About _anything you want_."

"_Oh_." Sirius grinned. "Fine. You look after the baby, Hermione. We need to talk."

"_You want to be 'alone', Sirius_." Hermione said, tartly, in Russian. Sirius, laughed, petted the baby's cheek and shoved Remus out of the room.

.

Baby George, or Fred, didn't like being dumped in the crib and started to cry at once. Hermione was absolutely determined to get him back to Molly. She got dressed in her Russian dress, sure by how hungry she was that she'd been asleep for a long time. The baby, she noticed, had been changed into a different long white dress, this one trimmed in green velvet ribbon. Carefully she carried him out of the room.

.

Sirius and Remus were kissing, pressed against the far wall. Hermione coughed at them, pointedly. "Do I look like I care?" Sirius asked, smirking.

"_Don't speak to me_." Hermione assured him, in Russian, carrying the baby downstairs.

.

"Ah, here she is!" Walburga exclaimed, clapping her hands and coming to take Hermione's arm. "And my little grandson!" Hermione didn't realise the room was full until she was suddenly surrounded.

.

"_That's your baby is it_?" A low voice asked, and Hermione saw a tall thin boy of about their age, had taken Sirius' arm rather firmly. His tone suggested he did not find it likely. His tone made Hermione turn full circle, to see what had happened to Remus. But Remus had not come with them into the room.

.

"_Shut your mouth, you piece of shit_." Sirius hissed at him, yanking his arm free and putting it firmly around Hermione.

"Hey Sirius." Regulus Black said, also finding a path through the women cooing over the baby. "Hello Victoria." He offered her his hand, which Hermione did take, warmly, giving him a fierce smile that seemed to take the younger Black rather by surprise. "She speaks no English, right?" Regulus clarified, pulling his brother into a brief hug.

"Not a word." Sirius said, smiling again. "Why Reggie?"

"No reason." Regulus said, trying not to smile. "Just a bit random, isn't it. I heard you told everyone at school that she was a boy."

"Yeah. Maybe don't mention that to father?" Sirius suggested. Regulus looked up at him in surprise, before he smiled, uncertainly.

"…Right, I won't." He said. "…I'm glad you're home, Siri."

.

"…Oh! Doesn't he have his mother's eyes!" A petite witch with masses of hip length auburn curls exclaimed, peering at Hermione with bright-eyed interest. "She's very pretty, Sirius. Haven't you done well for yourself?" Sirius paused, trying to decide if this was sarcasm.

"I love my fiancé very much." He claimed, firmly, clasping Hermione round the waist for a moment, which put him nose to nose with the baby. Distracted he stole the baby away, causing the women to flock around him instead.

.

"And you don't speak any English, my lovely?" The pretty witch asked, studying Hermione with big chocolate brown eyes. Hermione shook her head, reaching behind her for Sirius, who sighed, at her.

"This is my Aunt Lucretia, my father's little sister." He said. "Aunty. This is my fiancé, Victoria Hermione Krum. I call her Hermione, because the rest of it makes me think of cakes. Mmm, cakes. I'm going to see if my son likes them."

"You are a funny boy, Sirius!" Aunt Lucretia laughed, hugging him and kissing the baby in his arms. "So pretty." She added. "Molly is here with her new baby, Sirius. Why don't you come and introduce them?"

.

Sirius grudgingly let Hermione take the baby back. "She won't believe you anyway." He hissed, putting his arm firmly around Hermione's waist and forcing a gritted smile as he followed his aunt through to the Drawing Room.

.

A very young Molly Weasley was sitting in Grimmauld Place's Drawing Room. Hermione wondered what on earth she was doing there. Arthur wasn't there, but the three little red haired boys that were Bill, Charlie and Percy, were standing in the window, eating cake and giggling. Sirius glanced at them before reaching out to take the baby again.

.

_"Sirius._" A tall man suddenly stepped in front of them, making Hermione jump. Aunt Lucretia put a hand on her arm, patting it.

"Don't you fret." She said, stroking her as if she were a kitten. "No fighting." She said, firmly to the man towering over her. "_We are family, Gid_."

"My arse, we are." The tall man said, glaring at Sirius.

.

"Don't fight." Molly warned them. "Sirius, can I see your baby?"

"Yes, I guess you can." Sirius said, keeping hold of Hermione as he took her over to the couch. "This is my soon-to-be-wife, who you can call Hermione. And this is my baby son, Arcuturus James Black. He has my hair and her eyes, see?"

.

Hermione showed Molly the baby, watching her closely for any trace of recognition.

"He's lovely." Molly assured her. "And this is my latest. We've called him Ron."

"_Ron_!?" Hermione said.

"Yes. Ron... Ronald George Fredrick Weasley."

.

"You've given him all those names?" Hermione stammered. Sirius took Baby Arc quickly out of her hands, while she was reeling.

"I'm sorry, I don't speak any Russian." Molly told her kindly. "But I know a lot about being a mum. Sit her down Sirius. Can you tell her I'll be happy to help, if she needs anything."

"No. I can't speak Russian either." Sirius shrugged. "I think she's fine. My mother loves her."

"That's good." Molly assured him. "…We were surprised to hear you'd come back here, Sirius."

"_Very surprised_." The tall man growled, turning away from the window.

"Not in front of the children, Gideon." Lucretia warned him.

"Then take them out." Gideon suggested. "Because I think we deserve some answers."

.

"He has a _new-born baby_ in his arms!" Molly pointed out, fiercely. "And a fiancé that doesn't speak any English! He's just doing right by them."

"That's it, is it?" Gideon asked, glaring at Sirius. "Ran home with your tail between your legs?"

"I didn't have much choice." Sirius shrugged, not remotely phased by this. "Maybe I'll pass you information from the inside, if you aren't too much of a jerk, Gideon."

"Wouldn't trust you." Gideon glared at him. Sirius shrugged, going back over to Molly, to look at his stolen baby's twin.

.

"_Don't stare at my sister's tits_." Gideon growled.

"Don't be ridiculous! He was looking at the baby!" Molly exploded. "He was looking at Ronnie."

"My wife is rubbish at feeding Arc." Sirius told her, watching Molly nursing her baby, which should have been Fred or George, but was now called Ron.

.

"Ron?" Hermione asked, pointing at the baby. Even the name 'Ron' sounded Russian, from her mouth. Did this mean her Ron was now going to be called Fred or George?

"That's right, Hermione!" Molly flashed her a big smile. "_Ronald_. And you've called your baby _Arcturus_. That's a family name, Sirius?"

"Yeah. I wanted to call him James…"

"James is _disgusted_ with you." Gideon assured him. Molly sighed, heavily.

"He's a very pretty baby, Sirius." She said, which cheered Sirius up, peering at the baby in his arms happily.

"…Yes, he is." He agreed. "He's lovely. Your baby's lovely too. Why did you call him Ronald?"

"Arthur chose it. He's not like my others. Ron always looks a bit falorn."

.

"_Like he's lost something_!" Hermione said, to Sirius, in Russian. "_Like the twin he shared her womb with for nine months!_" Molly smiled at her, and stroked Arc's hair, which was now black, but nothing more than wisps.

"…They'll be friends when they're older, Sirius." She pointed out. "When the war ends."

"_If_ the war ends. _If_ we aren't all dead." Gideon pointed out. "Maybe you could get your baby a little silver mask, Sirius. A tiny black brand for its arm, perhaps?"

.

Sirius pushed up both his sleeves. "I'm not a Deatheater, Gideon." He assured him, firmly. "Do you want me to pass information to you, or not?" Gideon scowled at him, uncertainly.

"…Everyone thinks you've swapped sides." He murmured.

"Good?" Sirius suggested. "Tell James. Don't tell anyone else. Tell him Moony's alright, as well."

"That the Werewolf?" Gideon murmured, pretending to be looking at the baby in Sirius' arms.

"It was Pettigrew that had swapped sides." Sirius told him. "I told Remus to kill him."

"That's not how Dumbledore explained it." Gideon assured him. "But yeah. I'll hear what you've got to say." Gideon assured him. "You know what side I'm on, Sirius. It's no secret."

"_Gideon dies._" Hermione said, tugging at Sirius' sleeve.

"_I'm holding him."_ Sirius growled at her. "_He's my baby._ _And I don't trust you._" Hermione glared at him and stalked out of the room.

.

Remus was in Sirius' bedroom, reading her book. "_Take this spell off my voice."_ Hermione demanded in Russian. "…_Give me back my wand."_

"You know I don't understand you." Remus pointed out. Hermione glared at him before stalking over to Sirius' desk and inking up a quill.

'Give me back my wand,' she wrote, 'or I'll tell Walburga you stole the baby.'

.

"Hermione, I am trying to keep you safe." Remus assured her, taking out the wand and passing it over. Hermione removed the Russian language charm at once.

"No, you're not!" She hissed at him, crossly. "You're a stupid school boy! All you ever try to do is pander to Sirius, so he wants to 'get off' with you!"

.

Remus stared at her, mouth falling slightly open in surprise. He really did look seventeen. His cheeks coloured as he closed his mouth. "…Sirius became an animagus for me." He explained, firmly. "He protected me when he found out what I was, and forgave me, for lying to him, for pretending to be human. I'll do anything for Sirius and I will keep him safe. That doesn't mean I don't want to keep you safe too."

.

"Molly is down there." Hermione told him, angrily. "The women whose baby you stole."

"It was a twin!" Remus hissed back, firmly. "I was trying to keep you and Sirius safe. She doesn't know or mind. She said in the hospital how relieved she was that it _wasn't _twins because they haven't much money."

"You stole someone else's baby and you brought it to _this house_, this house of Death Eaters and… death."

"They're not Death Eaters." Remus assured her. "I am actually astonished that Regulus is." He gestured to the book. "How can a half-blood, Muggle-raised wizard, presume to enslave the sons of the pure-blooded?"

"Remus, you have always come across as reasonably intelligent. Everything I wrote in that book is true. That is what happened in the future before me and _you_ changed everything. Now we have to focus on getting away from this house and making sure Voldemort is still defeated and that is harder to do with, a, a new born baby; with you believing in blood-purity and werewolves not being human; and you and Sirius spending most of your time coming up with excuses to snog each other. I am a teenager as well, can you try to act less like one, because this is a very serious situation.

.

"Sirius isn't even here." Remus pointed out, blushing furiously. "I didn't know he was going to want to keep the baby. It made his family accept you. If they hadn't, they'd have snooped around and found out you weren't a Russian pureblood. That would have been bad. Look at Bellatrix. She's downstairs right now. Do you honestly want her to find out who you are? What do you think would happen to you and the baby then?"

"We have to get the baby back to Molly." Hermione said, firmly. "We need to warn Gideon that he and Fabian die, soon."

.

"I am torn between trying to help everyone, and trying not to change too much of the future."

"It's a bit late for that." Hermione assured him. "You changed everything when you killed Peter."

"But you'd have caused that too, if you'd convinced him not to do it." Remus pointed out. "I killed my best friend, Hermione, when he hadn't done anything wrong. I didn't make that choice likely. I believed I would be tortured to death for it. But I had to do it."

"For Sirius? You and Sirius don't even stay together." Hermione informed him. "It's just a silly school relationship. You don't even go to James and Lily's Wedding, or Harry's christening, together. Lily writes a thank you note,_ just to Sirius_, for Harry's first birthday present…"

.

Feeling slightly ashamed, Hermione sighed, irritably. "We have to focus on stopping Voldemort." She informed him. "Not on good places to snog. Me and Ron never had this problem. Or Harry and Ginny."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Remus assured her. "But you saw how James felt, just about Sirius messing about like that. If he was going to invite me before, he's not now I've murdered a wizard, is he?"

"No. Although I think you can safely say it's more than just 'messing about' when you start killing people for each other, Remus."

"It's _just_ messing about." Remus said, flushing.

"I don't really care." Hermione assured him. "I care about defeating Voldemort, getting baby George back to Molly and getting away from here."

.

.

.

The wedding was rushed through at a frantic pace, because of Arc's arrival. It was hard to believe the baby was really George, or Fred. Hermione thought of him as George, as much as she could, although he looked like Arc. He had fluffy black hair, and lived in long white dresses, slung over Sirius' shoulder like a floppy doll.

.

Sirius did love Arc. He carried the baby around, because he cried when he was left lying down for too long. Sirius liked feeding him his bottle, and he did change nappies and go to the baby if he cried in the night.

.

Hermione was still sleeping in the Guest Room, but Sirius always took Arc up to his room, where Remus also slept; an arrangement none of the Black's seemed to question.

.

A month after Arc's arrival, on May Day 1978 Hermione and Sirius got married. In fact, the fictitious 'Victoria Krum' and Sirius got married. Igor, good as his word, had produced some Russian relatives to come over for the ceremony, and Arc was placed in the care of Draco's mother, Cissy. Draco, Hermione feared, was not actually going to be born, because Cissy was no longer allowed to marry Draco's father, and was instead being shipped off to Russia, by way of a thank you for Hermione.

.

.

.

"This is the most bizarre thing I have ever done." Hermione murmured, clasping a bouquet of flowers and dressed head to toe in white lace. "And my life has never been very normal."

"You know I can't understand you, when you're speaking Russian." Sirius tilted his head down to remind her. They were standing _at the alter_, getting married, with her pretend Russian relatives, all the Black's and assorted relatives, watching on.

.

"Where's Remus?" Hermione asked him. Sirius narrowed his eyes.

"Waiting outside." He said, quietly. "I'm shattered." He added, stifling a yawn. "Arc kept waking up last night. I hope this doesn't take long."  
"How romantic." Hermione assured him.

"I can't understand you." Sirius said again, lifting a hand to his little brother, who was 'Best Man' and yawning again. Hermione closed her eyes and thought about Ron.

.

Hermione didn't know much about wizarding weddings. It was not a topic she'd read up on. She went along with everything, because there was little opportunity not to, but she still felt rather shocked, to suddenly find herself thrust into a bedroom, lit only by candle light; a bed sprinkled with rose petals.

.

Despite the _vast_ amount of champagne she'd downed, she suddenly felt _very _sober. Sirius, wrapped up an argument with his mother, about who was going to look after Arc, before stalking into the room, scowling. He too looked rather stunned by the candles and rose petals. He stared at the room for a moment before looking round at Hermione, eyes wide and grey, clearly taken by surprise.

.

Hermione removed the spell from her voice.

.

"…We're married." Sirius said, sounding caught off guard.

"Well, yes, we are." Hermione agreed. "But we _aren't_ actually going to do this, are we. I love Ron. I do hope I can get back to him. And you love Remus."

"I don't _love_ Remus." Sirius corrected her, distractedly. "But no, of course not. You want to get back to Ron. I… Who do you think _did_ this?"

"Your mother?" Hermione suggested. "Kreacher?" Sirius looked up at her, frowning uncertainly before he realised she was joking. He laughed in surprised relief. Hermione let her breath out, not realising she'd been holding it.

.

"Come, darling wife!" Sirius demanded, jumping onto the bed and snatching up a bottle of champagne. "Get on this bed, I have a toast."

"You have a toast?" Hermione asked, doubtfully, sitting primly on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah, I do." Sirius assured her, popping the cork and letting the wine fizz into the two waiting glasses. He passed one over, before taking his own.

.

"I want to propose a toast." He said. "To you. Thank you, Hermione, for helping me. Thank you for warning us what the future holds. I would do pretty much anything to show you what it means to me. Anything except give Arc back, which I just can't do because I love him and there's no 'back' to give him to. But anything else. You're amazing, and if you weren't already Ron's, I couldn't think of a better wife, because you're ace. _To you, Hermione_!" He said, and flashing her a very genuine grin, he clinked glasses and drank.

"…Thank you." Hermione assured him. "I'd toast you, but I have a better idea. Stay there…" She got up and used a disillusionment charm (quite tricky), to make herself vanish into the background.

.

She listened at the door, to make sure the corridor was empty; looked back for a moment, at Sirius sitting on the candle-lit bed, all scattered in rose petals, and then she hurried up the stairs.

.

She had expected Remus to be reading, as he usually was. But he was lying on Sirius' bed, face buried in his arm. He did not look happy, although Hermione presumed he wasn't expecting Sirius to suddenly decide to consummate their union.

.

"…Remus?" She crept across the room. "Remus? I think it would be more sensible if I slept up here, tonight."

.

Remus lifted his head out of the pillow, blinking at her in surprise. He actually looked like he'd been crying. For a moment he didn't say anything at all.

.

"…Sure?" He asked, finally.

"Why not?" Hermione said. "It's not like anyone's going to disturb someone's wedding night. I'll creep down in the morning, early, and we can swap back."

"But… _Right_." Remus stammered, then shot off the bed and out the door so fast Hermione almost laughed. _Almost_.

.

She actually felt pretty sad. It had been a very weird day and she felt drunk and dehydrated. It was weird sleeping in Sirius's room, which smelt of boys, and really quite bizarrely had those Muggle pictures of, very seventies-looking, girls in bikinis on the wall. Hermione wondered how old Sirius had been when he'd decided to put them up. Fourteen, she supposed, seeing as he'd left home at fifteen. Clearly he knew how to deal with his own sticking charms, as Hermione saw he'd removed the picture of himself with James, Peter and Remus. She tried not to think about Peter as she drifted off to sleep in the unfamiliar bed.

.

Sirius was drinking champagne from the bottle, which was surprisingly hard as the fizz went up his nose; mostly he was trying to distract himself from the surreal and rather awful situation he seemed to have landed himself in. He didn't look back at the door, when Hermione returned, until the silence made him. He stared at Remus, in the utmost surprise, as Remus' eyes moved over the room of flickering candles and the rose-petal bed, which Sirius got off, quickly.

.

"Where's Hermione?" He asked, uneasily.

"Said…" Remus cleared his voice, firmly. "She said… she'd sleep up stairs." He said. He looked over at Sirius, who clearly hadn't realised. "Do you… do you mind?" Remus added, uncertainly.

"No." Sirius said. "Do you… Do you think she minds?"

"I don't know." Remus shrugged. "She's got that Ron, hasn't she. I could… go somewhere else though. If you thought…"

"I think you should." Sirius agreed. "If anyone finds you here…"

"I don't think anyone's going to come in." Remus pointed out. "It's your wedding night, Sirius."

"She didn't expect me to do anything, Moons." Sirius told him.

"Right. I'm sorry." He said, sincerely enough to make Sirius snigger.

"…You don't think anyone's going to come in?" He asked. Remus looked at him for a long time and then he made sure the door was locked, for which Sirius laughed again. He sat back on the bed and offered Remus the half-drunk champagne. They drank it in silence.

.

"Who did this?" Remus asked, finally, looking at the flickering candles, and the rose-petals that made the room smell like morning dew.

"I don't know." Sirius said. "It feels really weird." Remus nodded, looking quickly away from Sirius again and around the glowing candles. "…Still." Sirius added. "It's nice."

.

Remus looked back at him. Sirius thrust the champagne bottle between them, watching Remus drinking.

"It's a bit… 'girlie'." Remus suggested, which finally set them both laughing.

"No one is going to bother us, all night." Sirius said, the concept finally starting to sink in. "So… wanna have some fun, Moony?"

"Yeah." Remus assured him, shoving the bottle onto the bedside table and watching Sirius unfastening his tie and starched shirt and then hHe glanced at the door again before getting onto the bed and yanked off his jumper, letting Sirius pull him into a kiss.

.

Hermione knew this, because Sirius told her the following morning. She had slept rather badly, and easily woken at around six o'clock, creeping down to the kitchen, and making a tray of tea and toast.

.

She had knocked before letting herself back into the bedroom, where the candles were still glowing, enchanted not to burn down. Sunlight was starting to make the curtains glow and Sirius and Remus were curled up together in the bed, at least topless. Hermione was not sure what to do. She put the tray down on a table and hovered, wondering if she should wake them up, although she didn't really need to, now she and Sirius were back in the room together. It just felt a little voyeuristic _not_ to wake them. It was kind of interesting though. Sirius was at his most handsome when he was asleep, all pale limbs and tussled hair. He was also nestled rather sweetly against Remus' shoulder. Hermione could see the horrific bite mark, twisted and pale, coming halfway down Remus' back. She wondered if the jaws had left such a monstrously big bite, or if the scar had grown as Remus had turned from a child to a man. Remus, while not technically as handsome as Sirius, was very manly. He had impressively nice broad shoulders and a hairy chest that slightly reminded Hermione of Ron's.

.

It was, Hermione thought, the most unconvincing 'just messing about' ever.

.

What had taken her a shockingly long time to realise, about the 'just messing about', was that both Sirius and Remus weren't lying to their friends. They were actually lying to _each other_.

.

Eventually she made herself a cup of tea, picked up a random book and watched them sleeping over the top of it. They were both, she suspected, naked. _And cuddling._ The cuddling was actually slightly mystifying. She had pondered the non-cuddly nature of boys with Ginny and Angelina. Ron was a rubbish cuddler, all elbows and knees, and wanting to sleep like an unfriendly starfish that didn't know how to share a duvet.

.

Ginny said Harry was even worse. Maybe it was a gay thing, she considered, although it seemed awfully unlikely. While she was pondering this, Sirius woke up. He failed entirely to notice her presence in the room, staring, as he was, at Remus' still sleeping face.

.

He jumped so violently, when he did notice her resting against the far wall that Hermione spilt her tea. Sirius also snatched the covers up around himself, which made her laugh. Recovered, Sirius laughed as well.

.

"How long have you been there?" He asked, quietly.

"Ages." Hermione assured him, using a spell to reheat the tea and toast. "I didn't want to wake you, but I thought I'd better come back, before anyone came snooping."

"Yeah..." Sirius agreed, looking at her thoughtfully.

"I'll bring this over." She offered. "Seeing as you appear to be naked."

"…Yeah." He watched her making a cup of tea, straightening the covers before he accepted it. Hermione looked for a chair before sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Sorry if I ruined your morning." She added. "But I had to come back."

"Yeah. No, you didn't ruin… You're very nice to be okay with this." He pointed out, pulling his knees up and resting on them as he drank hot black tea.

"You're a very nice husband to be okay with me having a boyfriend I am determined to get back to." Hermione pointed out.

"The thing is…" Sirius said, glancing at Remus for a moment, who promptly snuggled closer against him, slinging a bare arm around Sirius' waist. Sirius checked Hermione's expression again, warily. Hermione grinned at him.

.

"Ron is not so much with the cuddling." She told him.

"I think that it's a canine thing." Sirius said, looking over her uncertainly, again. "So the thing is… I don't think it is just 'messing about'… I don't." Sirius said, picking at the edge of the sheet, uneasily.

"Good." Hermione said, brightly. "Want a slice of toast? I made enough for three people." Sirius laughed again.

"No." He said. "So, yeah... I think I… It's not really just… nothing."

"He murdered his best friend to keep you safe." Hermione pointed out. "Which he thought was his own death sentence."

"I know. I know he loves me." He glanced down at Remus, uncertainly, and then launched into an impressively detailed account of the previous night.

.

Remus didn't stir. By the sound of it he was tired out. Sirius finally fell silent and finished his black tea. He looked over Hermione warily. "So what do you think?" He asked.

"I'm not sure what you mean." Hermione said. "You know I think it's fine."

"Do you think I've messed my head up?" Sirius asked, earnestly. "Because I feel… like I have."

"No." Hermione said. "I don't think you've messed your head up."

"But I have." Sirius jumped in, at once. "I have. You don't know how I feel. How this feels. I think this is your fault."

"I swapped rooms last night because I thought you would really like having time together, knowing no one would come in." Hermione pointed out. "I thought you'd be pleased."

"I am." Sirius said at once. "No, I'm not." He added. "And I didn't mean last night. I meant everything. We _were_ just messing about at school. And we would have probably been busy studying for the last couple of months if it hadn't been for you. And then Remus was going to go and live with Werewolves, and James and I were going to fight Voldemort, like you wrote in your memoire. But you make out that I'm gay, and now… Now, I feel gay."

.

Hermione didn't say anything. Sirius picked up one of the pink rose petals that still littered the bed, pouting crossly at it before flicking it onto the floor. "…The pink rose petals really don't help!" He added, with a bark of laughter, that made Remus open his eyes, blinking sleepily before removing his arm from Sirius's bare waist and sitting up.

.

"Sorry about disturbing you." Hermione said, at once. "I had to come back, in case it looked suspicious.

"Yeah." Remus did get off the bed at once, pulling on jeans and a jumper. Sirius' pout became a full blown scowl.

"…I want to be on my own." He growled, quietly. Hermione and Remus both looked at him.

"…Do you mean… 'on your own'?" Remus asked, clearly as uncertain as Hermione. Sirius flushed and scowled at him.

"…With you." He muttered.

"Oh… Good." Remus said, although he then glanced at Hermione, worriedly.

"I need to stay here." Hermione pointed out. "We need to go down and find Arc and your family, together."

"Go and get Arc, Moony." Sirius said, at once. "Oh, no. _You_ go and get Arc, Hermione."

"Oh, hang on…" Hermione assured him. "Last I heard, we weren't your slaves, Sirius." Sirius laughed.

"You're my wife and he's my… prisoner." Sirius said, pleased with the choice of word. Remus laughed. Hermione laughed as well.

"I made you some toast." She told Remus, and she went downstairs to find out what had happened to the baby.

.

Arc was only a month old and didn't really care who looked after him. Hermione gave him a bottle in the kitchen, while Kreatcher made her crumpets and jam, after which she was accosted by Walburga, who wanted her to sit in the Drawing Room and show off the baby to the bitter Black sisters. Andromeda had already been disowned. Cissy was about to be sent to Russia to marry Igor, who she hardly knew, and Bellatrix, also already married, glared at her and Arc, as she always did, while Walburga berated her for failing to produce a child from her own marriage, of three years.

.

She took Arc and a tray of food up to Sirius and Remus. Kreacher had carried the tray so she hadn't been able to knock, and studiously ignored that Remus was back in Sirius' bed, taking the tray off the elf, one-handed, and kicking the door closed, before he could see into the room.

.

Sirius and Remus leapt apart, frightened, and then embarrassed.

.

"I brought you lunch." Hermione said, brightly, wobbling the tray onto the bed. "And a baby. How's married life?" Sirius laughed at her, nervously. He could not have looked more bed-ruffled or flushed if he'd tried.

"It's ace?" He suggested, cautiously.

"Do you want me to take Arc out?" Remus suggested.

"No." Sirius said, catching his arm at once, to keep him in the bed.

.

"There are too many people about." Hermione told him. "Bellatrix and Cissy are still here. Did you know Bellatrix has been trying to have a baby for three years?"

"Of course. What would grow in that frigid bitch?" Sirius said, at once.

"It's just strange to see her like this, for me." Hermione endeavoured to explain. "She seemed rather humiliated."

"You hate her." Sirius pointed out. "We know what she does to you in the future. We were going to kill her, weren't we?" He looked across at Remus, who gave the briefest nod of assent.

"Before she can hurt Frank and Alice Longbottom," he explained. "But because of what she does to you, as well."

"And to me." Sirius said, winking at him. "I was wrong as well…" He added, to Hermione. "About what I said before. How I feel; it's not your fault… That I feel like we should be together." He added, earnestly, to Remus. "Yeah?"

"You know how I feel." Remus pointed out. He was sharing Sirius' food which Hermione thought was rather sweet.

.

"Talk to Hermione about how you feel." Sirius told him.

"Is that an order or a request?" Hermione asked. Sirius scowled at her.

"If you don't mind, Moony." He added. Remus did look like he minded, and he took a moment, clearly trying to think what to say, in which Sirius stopped eating and scowled at him.

.

"…Well." Remus said, finally. "I… You know, Pads. I love you, in every way and… there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you." Sirius grinned at him, before looking at Hermione slightly too smugly for her taste.

"That's nice." He pointed out. "Isn't it, Hermione? Hermione… _that's how I feel too_."

.

Hermione bit back the rebuke she was about to launch at him. "That's how you feel too?" She asked, instead. "You love Remus 'in every way, and there isn't anything you wouldn't do for him'?"

"No." Remus said, at once, clearly appalled. Sirius laughed at him.

"_Yes_." He said. "Definitely. That is how I feel. And see, my wife is fine with it. She has a boyfriend who I am fine with." He laughed. "We have a very modern marriage."

"Are you… fine?" Remus asked, carefully. "I mean, last night, you did tell me to come down here."

"You must have been _so_ gutted." Sirius sniggered at him, resting back on the pillows.

.

"He is a bit of an arse, Remus." Hermione pointed out. "Are you sure you've thought this through?"

"I am the Heir of the noble and most ancient House of Black!" Sirius cried, in outrage. "We'd all be out on the streets if it wasn't for me. You're very lucky I have so much time for Werewolves and time-travelling Mudbloods."

"See, not an arse at all." Remus pointed out. Sirius leant across and whispered something in his ear that made him choke, much to Sirius' obvious delight. He took the baby to play with, while Remus recovered.

.

"What are we going to do?" Hermione asked them, when they'd all finished eating. "I really want to get back to my own time, if it even still exists the amount of things I've messed up, but I think we have to stop Voldemort first. I'm sure I've messed that up."

"We do have to stop Voldemort." Sirius agreed. "It's our fault Peter isn't going to send him to James's house to die."

"Which is essentially a good thing." Hermione pointed out. "Unless it lets Voldemort take over. If only we knew something of what he was doing before that night, we would have an advantage over him."

"But you don't remember anything?" Remus asked her.

"Not a thing. Just that he was really powerful and killing people and no one knew who was on his side."

"Sounds about right, doesn't it?" Sirius pointed out. "But I might be able to get close to him. He rescued you, Moony, because I asked him to."

"And we know about the Horcruxes." Remus pointed out. "And what they are. So we should be able to destroy them all, as soon as we kill him, and then he won't be able to come back. When you go back to your time, you won't have had all those awful things happen to you."

.

Hermione nodded. There was so much that she could worry about. There was so little known about altering time, but she just had to have faith that she and Ron would both still be there, and still love each other. That everything could be put right. "I even feel bad about Draco." She pointed out, wearily.

"You can't feel sad for someone who never existed." Sirius assured her, cudling Arc against his bare chest, warily. Hermione nodded, looking at the baby and wondering how she was going to get it back to Molly.

.

.

.

And then life swept them up in its swirl of chaos. All three of them caught wizard flu, one of the few illnesses that can't be cured with magic and spells, each of them in turn spending a good week and a half in bed, while various members of the extended Black family came down with the same illness. At the end of July, while Sirius was sitting his NEWTs, with a Ministry Examiner, Baby Arc caught the flu as well, and was rushed, despite Walburga's frantic efforts to keep him in thqe house, to St. Mungo's.

.

.

The baby was very ill throughout the summer. Hermione had to remain speaking Russian almost all the time, although she now shared a bedroom with Sirius, and dropped the language charm to talk to him at night; usually about Arc's ever worsening condition. They had worse problems as well. Voldemort himself had taken to visiting the hospital, taking a great interest in the baby. Hermione, Sirius and Remus were all terrified that he planned to make the baby his seventh Horcrux. Despite this Arc was still too sick to be moved, and little could be done, but leave Remus on almost permenant watch over his bedside, to warn them if anything happened.

.

On hearing that Sirius' baby's life was in danger, James and Lily also came to the hospital. James and Sirius making peace while Lily sobbed over the baby, in utter horror.

.

The autumn did little to improve Arc's condition. Voldemort was speaking to Sirius a lot now; always when Hermione and Remus weren't there. They were both uneasy about this. Remus was sure Voldemort would try to use the baby to lure Sirius to his side, and Voldemort had so far come up with the most useful potions to keep Arc alive.

.

By Christmas Hermione could speak English, even with the Russian spell on, thanks to hours of tutoring. Although her accent was still distinctly foreign she kept the spell intact at night, as she and Remus sat up, nervously speculating on the baby's survival; the result of their actions on the outcome of the war; and Voldemort's increasingly frequent visits to the hospital to speak to Sirius.

.

1979 arrived in heavy snow storms. Arc continued to hang on to life by a wing and a prayer. It wasn't until March, thanks to an Albanian healer brought in by Voldemort, that Arc's health started to improve, and Hermione joined Sirius in the hospital to keep watch over both the baby's gradually improving health; and to keep an eye on Sirius himself, who Voldemort seemed to be talking to more and more.

.

.

.

Hermione and Remus left Grimmauld Place at the beginning of June, on one of the first warm days of the year. They were heading to the hospital to relieve Sirius, who had been at Arc's cot-side for the last day and a half. They had not used appararition, because the sunshine was so nice and the hospital was gloomy and depressing, but they were cut off by a vast Police presence.

.

"What are the Muggles doing?" Remus asked, in surprise. "Shall we apparate?"

"No." Hermione said, pretty certain this was the largest number of Policemen she had ever seen in once place. "Something is happening. What's the date?"

"I don't know." Remus said. "June."

"June 1979…" Hermione said, trying to think. "…Oh, yes. I do know what that is. Yes, we'll disapparate to the hospital." Which she did, seizing hold of Remus and leaping them across the city to St. Mungo's.

.

Sirius, was asleep, slumped over the crib, one of Arc's pale hands still curled in his own. He had drooled onto the blanket and Arc was smiling at him, looking rather healthy.

.

"He looks better." Remus pointed out, peering at the baby.

.

Hermione loved Arc. She reminded herself daily that he was really George and she had to get him back to Molly and Arthur as soon as he was well. But a year had passed and Arc still lay in 's barely clinging onto life even with magical help from the sides of both good and evil.

.

Sirius had grudgingly left the crib side to celebrate their first wedding anniversary with his family, and a month before that Arc had turned one, apparently at death's door, with Hermione and Sirius keeping a death-watch vigil at his bedside.

.

But Arc had pulled through. For the last month he'd seemed stronger every day. Hermione and Remus were both deeply relieved. Sirius mostly refused to leave the baby's bedside, but it looked like exhaustion had caught up with him, as he staggered blearily upright, catching Remus' arm, as he rolled aching shoulder, smiling down at Arc as the baby woke up.

.

"He's getting better." He said, hoarsely.

"And you haven't eaten anything for a day and a half." Remus informed him, pouring a glass of water, you have been asleep over a cot and you have a red mark across your face."

"And I still look better than you." Sirius pointed out, gulping the water, before going back to take the babies hand. "We'll be able to take him home soon." He added. "I can feel it."

"Probably." Hermione said. "But as this is 1979 there is a massive protest going on outside that you really need to go and see. Remus is going to take you and I am going to watch Arc. Enjoy."

"I want to get something to eat." Sirius complained, resting against Remus as he staggered out of the room.

.

.

.

June 1979. The Gay Pride March that brought together more homosexuals than had ever been in one place since time began. Hermione sat in Arc's room, reading a very dry copy of The Daily Prophet, wondering what Sirius and Remus were making of it. She was now pretty certain that Sirius and Remus' relationship had never made it this far, before her interference. They had purely 'messed about' at school, and been forced onto separate paths by the War, Dumbledore's needs for a Werewolf spy, and probably Peter's misinformation. By the time of James's death they hadn't trusted each other at all, and, Sirius at least, had spent twelve years brooding on what could and should have been. Remembering now, she was sure Sirius barely left Remus's side once he was out of Azkaban, and brooded anxiously whenever Remus left Grimmauld Place.

.

.

.

She was slightly dozing herself when they returned. Hermione folded her newspaper, watching Sirius scoop the baby out of its cot into his arms. "So?" She asked. "Was it interesting?"

"I got a t-shirt." Sirius informed her, with a smug little grin.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"It's a stretchy piece of muggle clothing." Sirius told her. "With writing on. Like a parchment you can wear."

"Wow. And they call that a t-shirt do they?" Hermione said, drily. "What does your wearable parchment say, Sirius?"

"It says…" Sirius said, trying not to snort with laughter. "I can't even stand up straight!"

"Oh wow." Hermione laughed. "Your mother will love that."

"A man in a bowler hat told me it was my mother's fault." Sirius said, at once. "I told him it most definitely was."

"Well, I loved my mother with all my heart." Remus assured him, settling in his usual chair. "So I have no excuse. He looks perky, doesn't he?"

"Arc is sad because he couldn't come with us." Sirius cooed, rubbing the baby's nose with his own. "He wants a little t-shirt too."

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't." Remus assured him. "His existence offends enough people already."

"It was amazing." Sirius said, turning back to her. The Muggles… The Muggles are amazing."

"They liked you." Remus assured him.

"And I liked them!" Sirius said, excitedly. "And there are," he said, with the upmost astonishment, "people who feel the same way as I do. Only they dress badly."

"They thought we were in costumes." Remus told Hermione. "They were mostly in costumes. I think dressing in costumes gave them a degree of anmomnity."

"I think they just dress like that." Sirius informed him. "They thought we were very lucky to have a baby."

"They thought I was very lucky to have you." Remus said, drily. Sirius turned to give him a look.

"And aren't you?" He asked, pointedly.

"Yes, I am." Remus assured him. "I didn't mean that. Just that… they all liked you, _an awful lot_."

"Oh _yes they did_!" Sirius laughed. Arc laughed in his arms, and Sirius went back to kissing him, and cooing at the baby.

.

"You didn't hate it, did you, Remus?" Hermione asked, anxiously.

"No." He said, sounding surprised. "No. It was rather eye-opening."

"For me." Sirius interrupted him. "It was eye-opening for me. Because you were already like that, Remus. I was engaged before you had this bad effect on me."

"Remus gets married and has a baby in the future." Hermione pointed out. "And you have no interest in girls whatsoever, Sirius."

.

Sirius sat down, much too suddenly for someone holding a sick baby. Arc cuddled into his chest, but Sirius said nothing at all, turned away from them.

.

"…I don't know why I would do that." Remus said, quietly. "Pads?"

"Because I die." Sirius said, refusing to look at them.

"But you won't." Remus pointed out. "And I won't. I don't like girls, Sirius, at all. I promise I won't. I love you." But Sirius said nothing; kissing the baby's fluffy black hair and ignoring them both.

.

"Sorry." Hermione mouthed. Although she thought Sirius was being very stupid, she knew Sirius well enough to know that he _was_ very stupid.

.

Arc was pronounced well enough to come home at the beginning of July, which meant they had to leave him with Remus, to attend James and Lily's wedding in August. It was 1979. Somewhere Hermione's own parents were already expecting her arrival in September. Regulus had probably got himself dangerous involved with the Death Eaters, although Sirius had made Kreacher swear not to let Regulus kill himself under any circumstances, but to apparate him back to the house from any underground lakes, no matter what he asked. That was all they'd done for almost a year, apart from worry about Arc. But the baby was fine now. Not much of a baby, although he was slow to walk after the length of time he'd been in St Mungo's.

.

Hermione spent a little while marvelling at the fact that she actually was at Harry's parents wedding, and that Remus had saved their lives, so they would probably be around to raise him. Then she bumped into Molly Weasley, who now had four ginger children running in every direction, and was overcome with guilt. Arc's twin brother (either Fred or George) was called Ron. He did not look much like the pale sickly Black heir. He was running around like a manic, his bronzed skin already smattered with freckles and his ginger hair cropped short and spiky. He was wearing lots of hand-me down hippy clothes and he could talk. Hermione asked if she could have a photo of him, and Molly promised to come round and see how she was getting on, despite being on very bad terms with Walburga and Orion.

.

.

.

Remus had taken Arc to look at the ducks in the park. This actually involved Arc being strapped into a large Victorian pram, while Remus sat on a bench reading a book, but Sirius made up for that by getting the baby out and playing with him on the grass, after giving Remus a public and affectionate kiss, much to the upmost horror of an elderly couple who'd been admiring Arc.

.

Arc and Ron looked in no way identical. Arc had no freckles. His skin was a smooth pale ivory, and his eyes looked big and shadowy in his thin face. He could sit up but he didn't crawl or run, and only spoke a few words for Sirius, and never for anyone else. He was not friendly, like his twin, and didn't wave or blow kisses. He only held his hand out to Sirius, when he wanted to be lifted. Nor was he dressed like Molly's baby, in his folded up dungarees and frayed jumper. He was still dressed in long lacy white gowns, and his black hair was long and got in his eyes. He looked more like Sirius, than a Weasley, and Hermione wondered how she was ever going to get him back to Molly after so long.

.

Remus, she was sure, was wondering no such thing. He was pretending to read, but he was watching Sirius rolling about on the grass with the baby. He had already told Hermione completely honestly, that he would in no way help her get the baby off Sirius, and would actively try to stop her doing so. Hermione was already seeing that a Remus not forcibly separated from Sirius for twelve years, twelve years when he'd believed Sirius was a moster, was going to be a very different person as well.

.

.

They walked back from the park slowly, Sirius still carrying Arc, and Hermione pushing the big empty pram. Remus was asking about James's wedding and how the Order of The Phoenix was getting on.

.

12 Grimmauld Place was silent and dark as they let themselves in. So still and lifeless that they stopped in the doorway and Sirius passed the baby back to Hermione before vanishing into the animagus form Hermione hadn't seen since she'd been thrown into the past.

.

The massive black dog took barely five steps into the house before changing back into Sirius, catching both their arms and disapparating off the doorstep.

.

.

.

"They're all dead." He said, as soon as they stopped spinning. "They're all dead. I could smell them."

"How can they be dead?!" Remus demanded. "The house is unbreachable!"

"I could smell it." Sirius said again, sounding like he was trying very hard to keep calm.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked him. Sirius took Arc back, and held him against his chest.

"Yes, I am very sure." He said, quietly.

"One of us must go and check." Remus pointed out. "They might be injured."

"Was Kreacher dead?" Hermione whispered, hovering to take Arc back, if Sirius wasn't alright. "You could summon him."

.

Sirius did, the elf appearing with a pop moments after being called. He fell on his knees at Sirius's feet, his hairless grey body sticky with blood, his eyes overflowing with tears.

.

"Tell him to go back to the house and fetch me a wand." Remus said, interrupting the elf's sobs. "At once, Sirius.

.

The night Sirius' family were murdered was vaguely surreal. Arc was not fully recovered from his stay in hospital and, outside of the Black family, they had surprisingly few people to turn to. Remus was a known Werewolf and murderer, Sirius was possibly marked for death, and Hermione was a pretend Russian pureblood, from the future.

.

Leaving the baby with them, Sirius went to Gringots and ordered the transferal of all the Black gold into different vaults, taking a substantial amount with them, which they dumped in the pram, that Hermione had still been clutching when they disapperated from Grimmauld Place.

.

They spent a couple of nights with the Weasleys, while the Order Tried to find out who had murdered the Blacks, as it was apparently not their doing. They stayed a night with James, when he and Lily returned from their weekend of a honeymoon, and then vanished off grid, into a Muggle community in London, full of arty hippie types.

.

The autumn and then the winter came while they were still struggling to make the house warded and habitable. Arc caught a bug that knocked him for six, and on the first two full moons Remus escaped from the room he was locked in, ripped the house to pieces, nearly escaped into the city, and endangered the baby.

.

.

Sirius produced a Christmas tree and a wealth of decorations at the end of the year. It was actually New Year's Day, but they had missed Christmas and celebrated it then. Hermione realised she had not acknowledge her own birth date in September, but not far from them, her parents were celebrating her first ever Christmas, with a baby her, only a year or so younger than Arc.

.

Arc was crawling. Remus went out and brought a lot of food and presents. Hermione didn't get presents for anyone, because their lives were in utter chaos. She had got to the point where she was frightened of going out of the house. She had no idea the damage she had done but she was sure it was massive. They were a day into 1980 and the chain of events that was meant to stop Voldemort the following year had been destroyed, by her and Remus.

.

Remus was pacing the livingroom, holding a screaming furious Arc. Sirius had only left the house to get food from the corner shop, but they were increasingly nervous about taking Arc out. There had been a lot of Death Eater killings, even in the Muggle area where they lived, and they were definitely in hiding. Sirius was in hiding, and from which side it was not entirely clear.

.

She made tea, drinking it black with Remus, because they were waiting for Sirius to show up with milk. Arc had crawled over to Sirius' Christmas supplies and found a bag of chocolate baubles, which he was eating his way through, happily. It occurred to Hermione that her parents, both dentists, would have a fit, but she was pretty certain she could repair Arc's teeth with magic, if he got fillings.

.

Sirius arrived back with a copy of the previous day's Daily Prophet, scooping Arc up into his arms as he watched Hermione and Remus reading the front page.

.

Hermione read it twice and still felt she couldn't be seeing it properly. This was Trelawnys prophecy, on the front page of The Prophet, but it was not the proper prophecy…

"_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... heir of the son, born with the birth of the fourth month of the equinox year ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born with the birth of the fourth month ..._"

"…That's Arc!" Hermione exploded. "That is Arc, Sirius! They have changed the prophecy so it's Arc, not Harry! This can't have happened! How can this have happened!?"

.

"…Because it was made up." Remus said, slowly. "The prophecy _always was_ made up. Voldemort believed the Prophecy, and was lured to a place where he could be killed. So… Who made the prophecy?"

"Professor Trelawny." Hermione said. "She's a fraud. Dumbledore has told her to say this. Snape was listening at the door! It was all a set up! Wasn't it!? Harry's parent's deaths! Peter!"

.

"You think Peter knew?" Remus asked, frantically. "Lily performed ancient magic that caused an Avada Kedavra to rebound upon it's caster? Lily 'the Muggle', only two years out of school randomly knew ancient magic?"

.

"You think they knew?!" Sirius demanded. "James knew it was a set up. He let himself and Lily die to defeat Voldemort? Peter knew!?"

"_I don't know_!" Remus assured him. "Hermione?!"  
"I don't know." Hermione cried. "I never thought it was a set up! There were strange things. like Trelawny clearly not being a proper prophet, and Lily knowing ancient magic off the top of her head …And Severus hearing the Prophecy at the door and relaying it to Voldemort, which Dumbledore knew he'd done at the time! _Oh God_!"

"But I couldn't have known." Sirius assured them. "I wouldn't have let them sacrifice James for anything."

"Which is _why_ they had to use Peter!" Hermione yelled. "_Oh my God_! It _was_ a set up! It was the only way they could defeat Voldemort. Lily must have known. And Peter! They sacrificed themselves! Three lives, to defeat a mass murderer."

"_And I killed him_." Remus whispered, sitting down with a bump. "I murdered Peter."

.

"They let me go to Azkaban for twelve years." Sirius assured him. "And Voldemort_ wasn't_ defeated because he was reborn."  
"And Peter helped him, then." Hermione assured him. "He murdered Cedric in cold blood and he used ancient magic to resurrect Voldemort from the dead."

.

"Lily wouldn't have known the magic, if someone hadn't told her." Sirius said, firmly. "And Peter… Peter wouldn't have betrayed us. He lured Voldemort to James' house and Lily used a sacrificial spell to destroy him and protect her son. James must have known… He must have known."

"But we ruined it." Remus pointed out. "And so they've changed the prophecy. _They've made it about us_."

.

.

.

The front doors were open and students were returning from the Christmas Holiday. Few of them had ever seen Hermione before, although she was sure some of them recognised Sirius on her left and maybe the Werewolf murderer on her right.

.

They reached the headmasters staircase before McGonergal and Slughorn blocked their path. Like Hermione and her companions they already had their wands drawn.

.

"Get Dumbledore." Sirius snarled. He had swapped arse hugging flares and handmade jumpers for his formal robes, as they all had, and he sounded ferocious.

.

"Where is your baby?" Dumbledore demanded, hurrying down to meet them in floor length yellow satin.

"Safe." Sirius growled. "No thanks to you. Did you murder my brother as well!?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Dumbledore assured him, sounding deeply astonished.

"_Don't lie to me_!" Sirius roared, disarming the two teachers and Hermione herself with a violent sweep of his wand.

.

"Perhaps you should come and talk in my office." Dumbledore suggested. "There are children in these corridors."

"Did you murder my family?" Sirius demanded again.

"No. Of course I didn't." Dumbledore assured him. "Your brother was a child and a student in my school."

"We know the prophecy isn't real." Hermione said. "We know because you changed it as a result of Remus and me changing things."

"The prophecy is real." Dumbledore said, firmly. "We believe it relates to your child."

"I bet you do!" Sirius snarled at him. "You bastard! You made it up. You've put my baby in danger."  
"And your spell won't work." Remus told him. "Because Hermione is not the baby's mother."

.

Dumbledore considered this in silence, before looking up at Hermione. "Is this true?" He asked, quietly. Hermione nodded. Dumbledore closed his eyes for a moment. "Who is the baby's real mother?" He asked, quietly.

"So you can murder her instead?" Remus asked, calmly. "I don't think so. I am sure you can understand why we are presuming you murdered Sirius' family. We know, because we know what happened before we changed everything."

.

"You did do this!" Sirius snarled, wand blazing as the headmaster made a shield to protect himself and his teachers. "You killed my family and you endangered my child!"

"Sirius, we want to help you!" McGonergal shouted, over the glowing shield. "The Prophecy is real, It was made by the great great grand-daughter of Cassandra Trelawney."

"That doesn't make it real. It's a set up." Hermione assured her. "I _know_ it is!"

"We all do." Remus agreed. "Originally you chose to make the prophecy about James and Lily's unborn son."

"Why would we?" McGonergal reasoned, crossly. "A child not yet born?"

"It's irrelevant." Dumbledore lifted his hand to silence them. He dropped the shield charm and looked at Sirius silently for a moment, before gesturing for them to come to his office.

Hermione, Remus, and the two house heads followed, only Remus still armed, at Sirius' side. Dumbledore, calmly settled behind his desk, offering them seats with the wave of his wand. He stroked his beard for a moment.

.

"…Voldemort is becoming more powerful every day." He said, finally. "No one outside of this room believes the prophecy is anything but truth."

"But it's a lie." Sirius growled. Dumbledore looked at him for a moment before he nodded.

"Yes, it is." He agreed. "A trap." He sighed. "We think Riddle will believe it." He explained. "What we know of him, suggests he will. He will try to kill the baby, who will be unharmed. Instead he will cause his own death. It seemed… It seemed most fitting that it should be your child, Sirius. More credible, for Riddle."

"I am going to kill you for what you intended for my friends and me." Sirius assured him.

"It was never about you." Dumbledore assured him. "The spell that will cause the killing curse to rebound is ancient magic, not something a young, Muggle-born witch like Lily would be able to do."

"But Hermione can!?" Sirius snarled, furiously.

"No…"

"That was my fault." Slughorn explained, quietly. "I changed the prophecy. I didn't know she was anything but a great and powerful pureblood Russian witch."

"But she's not even the mother of the baby?" Dumbledore asked.

"No." Remus said. "She's not."

"James knows about the plan." Dumbledore added. "Not that he or Lily were ever the intended target. We have been planning this since seventy seven."

"The target was to be Arthur and Molly's baby." McGonegal added. "Molly would have been able to perform the spells and she was willing to do it."

"But?" Remus asked, wand moving between the three teachers.

"But nothing." McGonergal said, tartly. "The plan was faultless."  
"I changed the prophecy." Slughorn said again. "Arthur…" He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Arthur begged me to." He explained. "They have four little boys and Molly was one of my students."

.

"You're lying." Remus said, lifting his wand again, as did Sirius. "We know the prophecy was about James and his son."

"It wasn't." Dumbledore said again. "Lily isn't even pregnant." Slughorn coughed, glancing at him, pointedly. "…I didn't even know she was pregnant." Dumbledore corrected. "The prophecy was meant to be about Ron Weasley."

"No it wasn't." Hermione said.

"…Yes, it was." Sirius said. "Wasn't it?"

"_Yes." _All three teachers said, at once.

"You've been planning it since Molly was pregnant?"

"Pad?" Remus murmured. Sirius glanced at him.

"Yes." Dumbledore said.

"It was James and Lily." Hermione said, firmly.

"It was Arthur and Molly." Sirius said. "But it wouldn't have worked, so you waited. You used James instead." Hermione and Remus both looked at him, uncertainly. "Fred and George." Sirius stated, calmly. A frision of fear jolted through Hermione's stomach. The secret that would get Arc taken from them. Dumbledore, McGonergall and Slughorn said nothing, comprehended nothing."

"…It was Arthur and Molly." Dumbledore stated again. "But now it's you."

"You've given us a death sentence." Sirius said, turning on Slughorn.

"You tried to kill Severus." Slughorn told him. "Do you know how little that boy has in the world, apart from his raw talent?"

"He has plenty of Death Eater buddies." Sirius said. "And he wanted to tell people we were in a relationship."

"You were in a relationship with Severus?" McGonergall asked, doubtfully.

"No. With Remus." Sirius said. "Snape knew. That's why I did it, and I wish I had killed him, seeing as he turned into a murdering Death Eater… You left Remus to be tortured and killed by The Ministry and now you have put my child in danger. And my wife. All of us. I suggest you change your prophecy back to Arthur and Molly Weasley as best you can."

"It will only work if there is no doubt it's real." Dumbledore pointed out.

"That's not my problem." Sirius assured him, passed Hermione her wand and swept out of the room.

.

"But it is our problem!" He exploded, flinging himself back into the house and retrieving Arc from the Muggle baby-sitter, obliviating her memory as he pushed her out of the house, and strengthened the wards around it. "What do I do!?" He howled, frantically. "What do we do?"

"Nothing." Remus assured him, watching Sirius carrying the toddler desperately about the room, the little boy clinging tightly to him, face in Sirius' neck. "…No one knows where we are."

"We have to keep Arc safe." Sirius said, frantically. "They'll be looking for him. Bella, Dolohov, Rosier…" he closed his eyes, stopping to hold the boy still, before looking back at Remus. "Those bastards." He groaned. "I don't know what to do."

"I don't know what to do." Remus assured him. "Yet. But we will do something. We're not going to let anyone h-u-r-t A-r-c, Pads. We're not. Or Hermione. Or you."

"Dada." Arc offered, twisting Sirius' shoulder-length hair into his fingers.

"Is fine." Sirius assured him. "I'm fine… I'm not fine. Take him, Moony. Shit…" And he stalked back out of the house, leaving Remus holding the baby.

.

o0o

It was nineteen eighty three when Hermione discovered that she had done another terrible thing; to add to the list of terrible things. The full moons were still a terrible problem. This one had been worse than usual, with Remus yet again escaping the confines of the cellar and trying to kill Hermione and Arc, and only Padfoot's violent attacks buying them time to baracde themselves in the attic, while Remus ripped the house to pieces, and Sirius, in his animagus form, did all he could to stop him escaping into the streets outside.

.

Eventually Arc had gone back to sleep, in her arms, but Hermione had never closed her eyes, leaving the little boy in the dusty roof space, to climb down at dawn, trying to repair the damaged house, while Sirius tried to heal Remus, who was unconscious, slumped on the blood soaked kitchen rug.

.

Hermione had left off her repair work when she'd heard Arc crying at the top of the ladder, and gone to help him down, steering him quickly past the bloody work in the kitchen and out to the café at the end of the street for a silent breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. Wearily she drank milky coffee and gazed into space, until it was time to take him to school, realising too late that she'd taken him out of the house in his pyjamas and using her wand to quickly change him into trousers and a jumper for school.

.

"Someone looks sleepy again." Miss Evans said, brightly, a hand on Arc's shoulder as she guided him into line.

"Our dog tried to kill us again." Arc said, nonchalantly. "I hate it."

"Wolf?" Miss Evans said, to Hermione.

"What?" Hermione asked, sweeping her frizzy unbrushed hair off her face.

"The dog." Miss Evans said. "Your dog is called Wolf, isn't it?"

"Yes." Arc said. "_The_ wolf. It escaped. Daddy tries to keep it in the cellar but it wants to kill us." Hermione scowled at him, uneasily. Arc gave her a vague look and examined the cuffs of his jumper, that Hermione saw were still part pyjama.

"….We had a bad night." She said.

"The dog really is… a problem?" Miss Evans asked, cautiously.

"Oh… No." Hermione assured her, quickly. "Just, silly exagerations. He likes it really."

"I hate him." Arc said, firmly. "The wolf wants to kill us. Daddy and Moony try to keep it in the cellar, but it gets out. It bites them."

"Arc, please don't." Hermione warned him. "No one wants to hear those stories." Arc nodded, gazing at his cuff again.

"Arc tells excellent stories." Miss Evans said, confidently. Hermione frowned at her. "And draws beautiful pictures. Your husband said you were at work on parents day." She added, smiling at Hermione. "Have you got five minutes to looks at some very excellent art work today?" Hermione thought about Sirius, on his knees with bloody unconscious Remus, and the destroyed house, and weighed it up against the need to pretend to be normal Muggles.

"Just quickly." Hermione agreed. "I do have to get to work. My husband is ill today."

"Nothing bad, I hope." Miss Evans said.

"The wolf bit him." Arc said, at once. "And Moony. Mummy hid me in the loft." Miss Evans forced a smile and took Hermione through into the class room were Miss Appleby and Mrs Roberts had already started collecting snack money and taking the register.

.

Arc proudly pulled out his draw, showing Hermione bad pictures drawn with crayons and paint. Telling her what they were, although she could see. Mostly because they were Sirius. Sirius, Remus and herself. They were, Hermione realised suddenly, Arc's family. Not a pretend family, until they could stop living in hiding, not pretend parents, who in public pretended to love each other, and not a pretend mother, who still lay awake at night searching desperately for some soloution that could reunite Fred and George with their own parents. Arc was a human being, they _were_ his family and, as far as Arc was concerned, she _was _his mother. Here, in her hands, were dozens of pictures, all showing the same thing, Arc's life, his house, his family, his fears of the dog that lived in the cellar that tried to kill them. _His mother_. Over and over, scrawled wobbily in childish crayon. Four words; _Arc, Daddy, Mummy, Moony._

.

Hermione stared at the little boy, chewing his bottom lip as he pointed rather seriously at a Mother's Day card he had made for her, to bring home at the end of the week. A work of art in pink and yellow tissue paper. Hermione moved it out of the way so she could see the crayon faces again, _Arc, Daddy, Mummy, Moony_. Hermione stared at them, blinking hard, until ears started falling all over them.

.

"Don't cry Mummy." Arc said, in alarm. He left her side to return with a tissue from the teacher's desk. "Don't cry, Mummy." He pleaded, anxiously.

"_Mummy._" Hermione whispered, horrified, realising she heard him say it to her, every day.

"Daddy and Moony will have the Wolf back in the cellar." Arc added, helpfully.

"Yes… I'm not crying about that." Hermione wiped her eyes, fiercely, blinking at the pale little boy in front of her. "It's your lovely pictures!" She added, picking them up quickly. "Look, it's Moony!"

"And Daddy!" Arc agreed, smile returning. "Kissing each other!" Hermione, seeing it was, snorted with laughter. Miss Evans laughed as well.

"Uncle, yes?" She said.

"Yes." Arc said, at once. "Remus is my uncle. He's Mummy's big brother. He lives with us and he's like a second Daddy to me." Hermione was sure that was a quote. That was actually something Sirius had sat Arc down and told him. She knelt down to give a rather startled Arc a fierce hug and a kiss on the forehead, before rushing back to the house.

.

She'd forgotten it was trashed. That the Werewolf had smashed and ripped up everything they owned. Or that Sirius would be on his knees in the kitchen still, in a pool of human blood. "How is he?" She asked, making two cups of tea. Sirius was sitting against the wall, knees pulled up, head resting against the ripped plaster.

"I need to learn new spells." He said, wearily. "Maybe speak to James about it."

"But Remus is alright?"

"Devastated." Sirius accepted his mug with a heavy sigh. "Talking about moving out. But yeah… Not dying. Did Arc ask why I didn't take him to school?"

"No. He knew what you were doing. He thinks we're his parents, Sirius. He thinks it's all real."

.

Sirius lifted his silver eyes to give her a look. "It is all real. He is all real," he stated, firmly. "This is real. I let the wolf escape. Again. It nearly killed him."

"Arc thinks we're a real family. He thinks I'm his mum. I am his Mum, Sirius. I am the only mum he's ever known. He draws pictures of me!"

.

Sirius took a mouthful of tea and sighed. Hermione noticed that Sirius had actually stuck many similar pictures up around the house. "…Do you buy him crayons?" She asked, suddenly. "Is he bringing these back from school?"

"I buy him crayons." Sirius said. "…Some have come from school." He added.

"He thinks you're his dad." Hermione said, peering around the kitchen with was dirty as well as broken and bloody. The pictures were the only evidence she could see that a child lived here. There was no highchair or toys, and the potions equipment Remus and Sirius used to dampen the Lycanthropy was smashed and smoking potions were dribbling down one of the Muggle kitchen units. "We're like the Drursleys!" She wailed in alarm.

"We're nothing like the Dursleys." Sirius exclaimed, looking up at her in surprise. "You said they abused Harry."

"Arc thinks we're his parents." Hermione pointed out, again. "He thinks he's a real person, not a baby Remus stole so your parents wouldn't find out I wasn't your pregnant Russian bride. He thinks I'm his _Mum_, Sirius!" She wasn't sure when she'd started shouting. Sirius, bloody and exhausted, closed his eyes and ignored her. "I go to sleep every night thinking of ways to get him back to Molly!" Sirius' eyes flicked open again. "This isn't real, Sirius, and he actually thinks it is!" She finished. "We have done something terrible."  
"You've done something terrible." Sirius assured her. "You don't love your son. I have loved him from the first day I held him in my arms and I have never brought him up like 'The Dursleys'!"

"But he's not your baby!" Hermione shouted back.

"He is my baby!" Sirius scrambled back to his feet now, angrily. "He's my son! My five year old son. He's not been a baby for years."

"He thinks we're his parents." Hermione cried again. "And Remus is his uncle."

"Well that's better." Sirius pointed out. "I'll explain when he's a bit older, about that. He'll ask, when he gets a bit older."

"I don't care about that." Hermione assured him. "I've spent three years trying to hide him in the Muggle world, waiting for a chance to repair the damage we've done, to get him home…"

"He is home."

"I know… I didn't know."

"You didn't know?" Sirius stared at her. He swept his long black hair off his face, and Hermione stared at him, not sure she'd actually looked at any of them properly since they had taken Arc still sickly from St Mungos, or gone home and found Grimmuld Place full of the corpses of Sirius' family. It seemed to hit her suddenly that Walburga and Orion were actually dead. Regulus too. She didn't even know what had happened to Kreacher after he'd fetched a wand for Remus.

.

"You alright, Herm?" Sirius asked, finally. Shaking her head, firmly, Hermione pulled out a chair and sat at the table. Sirius joined her.

"Moony's in bed." He said, gently. "I'll clear up here. Why don't you get some rest?"

"You're going to get Arc from school?" Hermione asked him. Sirius smiled before he nodded. "…You enroled him in that school? Filled out the forms… You… You're looking after him. I'm not looking after him." Sirius grinned.

"You're a rubbish mother." He assured her. "And that's pretty damning, coming from me."

"I liked your mother." Hermione confessed. "She was worried about Arc and me."

"She'd have thrown you out if she'd realised who you were." Sirius assured her. "But… Never mind."

"You've kept Arc hidden from Voldemort for two years."

"Three. Going on four now. James never meant to keep Harry hidden, remember. It was a trap to catch Voldemort." Sirius reminded her. He took out his wand and levitated more tea to them and some biscuits.

.

"I have to get home." Hermione stated, eating anxiously. "I have to get back to Ron."

"Fred." Sirius corrected her. "He's called Fred now. You call him Ron and he's going to think you mean his brother."

"Fred? They called Ron 'Fred'?"

"And Fred or George, 'Ron'." Sirius said, watching her, carefully. "Bit confusing, I fear."

"Fred died." Hermione said. "In my time… Fred died at the Battle of Hogwarts."

"_What_?" Sirius said. "Fred… _died_?"

"The Battle of Hogwarts is never going to happen." Hermione pointed out. "Do you even know what's happening in the Wizarding World?"

"Yes." Sirius said. "I talk to James… And Molly."

"…We can't give him back, can we?" Hermione conceded, trying to comprehend that.

"No." Sirius said, calmly. "I would never let you."

"Have you?" Hermione asked him, suddenly slightly certain that he had. "Have you ever stopped me, with a Confundus Charm or similar?" Sirius considered this, silently. "…Has Remus?" Hemione corrected.

"No. Me…" Sirius said. "I'm sorry." He added, meeting her eyes. "We had no choice. You terrified him."

"I terrified Arc?" Hermione whispered. "…He thinks I'm his Mummy and I tried to give him away?"

"…You keep trying to." Sirius said, wearily. "You tell him you're not his mother. Sometimes you pack up his things and try to take him back to her."

.

Hermione didn't say anything. Her mouth felt so dry she wasn't sure she could swallow the biscuit. "…And Remus wants to leave." Sirius added. "He's wanted to for months. But I think he's actually going to now."

"Remus is leaving you?" Hermione whispered, feeling the last vestiges of reality up-ending themselves. Elbows still resting on the table, Sirius pressed a hand over his eyes, and didn't bother to respond. Hermione was too shocked to react to this, as well.

.

Arc was five. He thought she was his mother. She kept trying to give him back… Sirius and Remus had stopped her with Confundus Charms... More than once… So she tried again and again, each time her mind cleared.

.

It took her a while to notice that Sirius, beneath his hands, was sobbing. Hermione watched him for a moment without speaking, before she got up and quietly left the room.

.

She stood, briefly, in her bedroom doorway. The room was sparce and the Wolf had ripped it to pieces anyway. The trapdoor in the ceiling was still open to the black loft, where she and Arc had spent the night. She went back onto the landing, stumbling through the other rooms, trying to walk into an Airing Cupboard before she found Arc's room, also trashed by the Wolf. It was a child's bedroom, with a small wooden bed, smashed, and a mobile of Quidditch players, intact and spinning in the breeze from the broken window.

.

Remus was asleep in the Master Bedroom. Heavily bandaged. Grey skinned. Black shadows beneath his eyes. He wasn't sleeping, but ignored Hermione as she stared at him.

.

"How many times have you confounded me?" She asked finally. Remus blinked, expressionless.

"…Don't know." He whispered, finally. His voice lost to howling, as usual. "…Dozens."

"I hate you." Hermione said. She could see her reflection in the broken mirror. She was thin and pale, her hair long and unbrushed. Her face looked older. "…You're leaving Sirius." She said, looking back at him. Remus said nothing, gazing at nothing. The shadows beneath his eyes looked like bruises, they were so black.

She listened to Sirius coming up the creaking stairs. Painted, uncarpeted, she recognised the creak on certain steps, uncertain how many times she'd heard it.

"Let him sleep." Sirius said, softly, in the doorway. Hermione looked at his drawn face, behind hers in the mirror. He looked ghostly, hints of his post-Azkaban self in the angular jaw and cheek bones, the deadness in his tired eyes. "Get some sleep." He added, eyes moving over her.

"Get some sleep, Sirius." Remus rasped, from the bed, as if he wanted to join in this game, of handing out sleep. "Sleep in Arc's room."

Sirius didn't say anything for a while, then wandered out. Hermione knew he hadn't gone to sleep in Arc's room, because there was no bed left to sleep on. And he'd have to be at the school to pick Arc up at three.

.

At Eleven, Hermione counted a distant tolling clock. She used her wand to set the clock in the kitchen working, and started to wash up, the bloody smashed up kitchen.

.

At one she realised there was too much mess and went instead to Arc's room, where she found Sirius, staring out of the window, in a daze. Grateful for her wand she started to repair the little room. The barred window, that had prevented the Wolf's escape, the clawed wallpaper, decorated with moving images of puppies and kittens.

.

"It's dark, Remus." Hermione said. Moonlight illuminated the double bed, where Remus dozed. For the first time Hermione noticed the jugs of water Sirius had left at his bedside. Two jugs. "_Remus_." Hermione said, angrily. "Sirius hasn't come back. I don't know if he's picked Arc up from school. I don't even know the name of the school."

"St Mary's." Remus whispered, without lifting his head off the pillow.

"Get up." Hermione told him, angrily. "For God's sake, get up!" But Remus didn't and Hermione went back down the stairs, illuminating the low ceilinged kitchen with magic and starting to clean again.

.

She didn't take Remus any food. She was too angry. She heard him go to the bathroom at some point, and he must have refilled the water jug, but it was many days before he staggered down the stairs, bloody bite marks still scarring his cheeks, and black shadows still beneath his eyes. Every joint on his body rainbowed with pretty bruises. Hermione glared at him, watching him take the bread and cheese she'd brought, and preparing food with his damaged hands.

.

Hermione had been cleaning and repairing for days. She didn't know if Remus saw or not. She was vaguely surprised when the first thing he did was use the Muggle telephone to ring the school and ask to know how Arc was getting on.

.

"Pick him up from the school." Remus told her, hoarsely. "You can bring him here." Hermione neither argued nor agreed. She went to the school, to meet Sirius, not to take Arc anywhere.

.

The school was two streets away from the house. Parents were waiting in the yard, chatting. None of them recognised her. It was the eighties. Hermione had reached the school before Sirius, but the children were still inside when he came onto the yard. He didn't really look like a Muggle, all black hair, angular cheek bones and pouty lips. The mums watched him walk over to her, whispering to each other.

.

"You came." Sirius said. It sounded like there had been an invitation at some point, she'd forgotten about. Maybe there had been, but if she'd forgotten it, it was his fault.

"Where are you staying?" Hermione asked him, at once. Sirius considered it, keeping an eye on the door Arc would come through.

"A hotel." He said, quietly. "A Muggle one. I think it's safe. Is Remus still at the house?"

"Yes… Where you expecting him to move out? He only got out of bed today." Sirius nodded. He didn't look at her. Just at the door.

"…Said he was going to." He agreed quietly. "I'll come round tomorrow, tidy up while Arc's at school…" He trailed off as the bell went and the children started to be let out. It was the teacher who'd shown her Arc's pictures. Mrs Evans. She smiled at them, before sending Arc out.

.

He looked like Sirius. Thin and pale, with too much black hair. She saw his eyes scan the yard, a Sirius-esque smile as he saw Sirius, and hurried over, breaking into a run, as he dropped his paintings and thrust Sirius' arms angrily aside to fall against her, screaming painful wild cries, his small hands pinching hard into her skin as he grasped at her, mothers all around her turning to stare, Sirius rising back onto his feet, staring, as she uncertainly pulled Arc into her arms and held him tight against her chest, feeling his choaking sobs, whispering over and over again '_Mummy, Mummy, Mummy_.."

.

Sirius had told Arc that Hermione was his Mummy. A terrible lie that Arc believed unquestioningly. Hermione was his Mummy and he, Sirius, was his Daddy. And Remus was his Uncle, Moony. And the Wolf was a prisoner, or the cellar, and would never escape into the house again. All lies.

.

Remus pulled himself to his feet as they came into the kitchen. His jaw pressed firmly closed, expression trying hard to be calm and reassuring. With unconcealable difficulty he limped across the room, to stroke Arc's hair and hunched shoulders as he hid his face in Hermione's neck, clinging limpet style against her.

.

Hermione tried to unravel his death-grip to make him look at Remus, hoarsely whispering how much he loved the little boy.

.

For some reason, Hermione had assumed Remus wanted her to lure Sirius to the house with Arc. Quite vividly she remembered Remus watching Sirius holding the tiny newborn baby, clearly pleased that Sirius mistook this security prop as some sort of fun present. She remembered Remus telling her that he had assumed Sirius would leave the baby at his parent's house, so they could run away together. Like everything else, she was caught out by the idea that Remus actually _loved_ Arc as well. She tried again to disentangle the clinging arms around her neck, suggesting he give Remus a hug, but Arc wouldn't let go of her.

.

Grimacing in pain, Remus sunk back into a chair. Hermione sat beside him, watching Sirius looking for biscuits before quickly making toast and jam, and putting it on the table with a cup of milk, before making tea.

.

It was Sirius' house, Hermione thought, along with 'I'm glad he actually feeds Arc'.

.

"Have a slice of toast." Hermione told him. A moment later the death-grip loosened. The little head lifted, taking in the room, and a hand crept out, reaching for Remus.

.

"…You've tidied up." Sirius said, finally, putting mugs in front of both of them. Arc hung between Hermione and Remus for a little longer before swapping laps, curling against Remus, with only a small hand left behind to hold Hermione's, safe and tight.

.

"It's Arc's home." Hermione pointed out, keeping the hot little hand as safe as possible. Remus slid the little boy toast, and cradled him, against his heart, pressing kisses into his hair. Sirius watched them, missing everything Hermione was saying, about her improvements and repairs to the little house, but she carried on talking, so that Remus wouldn't look up and see.

.

"Right. So. We're going to stay here tonight." Sirius interrupted her, finally. And Remus finally looked up at him. They both stared at each other, utterly heart-broken.

"Okay. I'll look after Arc." Hermione volunteered. "You can… sort it out."

"Can I sleep in your bed?" Arc asked, opening his eyes and looking from one to the other.

"Yes." Sirius said. "Of course you can."

"He can sleep with me." Hermione said. "You can sort it out, together, Sirius."

"You want to sleep with Daddy and Moony?" Sirius asked, ignoring that.

"Yes!" Arc said, keenly. "My bed is broken, I think."

"Mummy's fixed it." Remus assured him, calmly. "Would you like to sleep with Mummy _and_ Daddy, Arc?"  
"Yes!" Arc said, equally enthusiastically. "And you, Moony!" Remus nodded, wetting his lips.

"…I have to go on an amazing secret exciting mission." He said, softly. "For the Wizards. You have to look after Mummy and Daddy, till I get back…"

.

"I thought you loved me." Sirius said. Remus glanced at him before smiling at Arc again.

"…And I'll bring you some exceptionally cool presents." He added.

"I don't want you to go." Arc whined, not so easily fooled.

"Well, I won't go yet, then." Remus assured him. "I don't want to go anyway, now you're back. But I'll go before the full moon, and I'll take that stupid Wolf away, Arc, so it can never scare you or break your things again."

"Good." Arc agreed. "Or bite you and Daddy…" He touched the bite mark on Remus' face, tracing it with his small fingers.

"I'll take it away." Remus promised. "And I won't ever being it back. Me and Daddy think you're too precious to have that thing near you."

"And Mummy." Arc reminded him.

"Definitely." Remus agreed, kissing him again. "That bity wolf has made me feel blooming awful. If I lie on the sofa, will you come and build an enormous castle of bricks, for me?"

"To keep The Wolf out." Arc said, glancing at the locked cellar door.

"Just as an excuse so I can watch you, because I've missed you so much." Remus assured him. Arc chuckled, curling more tightly against him.

"And Mummy too." He whined, keeping a tight grip on her hand. "And Dadddy."

"Yes." Remus glanced at him quickly. "Of course Daddy too."

.

"…Remus." Hermione said, superbly calmly. "I am not sleeping in your bed with Sirius."

"I'm not asking you to shag him." Remus said, hoarsely. "Just to make Arc feel safe and loved."

"Can we talk about it without Arc?" Sirius suggested, uneasily.

"He's asleep," Remus said, which appeared to be true, as the little hand slid free of Hermione's as Remus pulled him higher into his arms. "And I am going." He told Sirius, calmly. "And I want to come and see Arc every week."

"…Remus." Hermione stammered, in alarm.

"And I… I'll try and make it less and less, after a bit."

"You're abandoning him?" Sirius said, struggling to keep his furious voice quiet enough not to wake the little boy.

"I'm not his father." Remus said calmly. "And I nearly killed him, Sirius. _Again_."

"You're getting stronger." Sirius said. "And I should have been in the cellar."

"But you weren't, Sirius." Remus said, less calmly.

"I wouldn't have let you hurt him." Sirius pointed out. "You know I wouldn't. I didn't."

"I have escaped three times, Sirius!" Remus exploded. "Do you honestly want to keep trying until I actually kill him?"

"We just have to be more careful." Sirius said. "You don't have to go."

"I'm a monster." Remus hissed at him. "Sirius… I have to go."

"You're not a monster." Sirius said, fiercely.

"I tried to kill Arc!" Remus shouted back, not remotely calm. The little boy jumped on his lap, and Remus wrapped him up tightly, kissing his hair. "…I'll do anything for him, Sirius." He promised quietly. "And for you. But I won't stay here anymore."

"He loves you!" Sirius said, angrily. "I love you! We'll be more careful!"

"This is why you're leaving?" Hermione interrupted. "You're leaving Sirius, because you're worried about hurting Arc?"

"_Arc stays_!" Sirius snarled, furiously.

"_Good_!" Remus assured him. "I want him to! I have to go, Sirius. Look what I've done to you! You should be here, with Hermione and Arc."

"_I want to be here with you!_" Sirius said, slightly desperately.

"I'm a monster!" Remus reminded him.

"I'm Voldemort's son!" Sirius shot back. "And they want to… He wants to k-i-l-l Arc. Please don't go."

.

"Will you both be quiet!" Hermione shouted at them, crossly. "Remus, you're just leaving because of the Lycanthropy?"

"Because I nearly killed Arc, and you, _three times_. I'm not waiting until the Wolf succeeds."

"So, you need to stay somewhere else during the full moon." Hermione pointed out.

"I _am_ somewhere else." Remus said, icily. "I am in the cellar. I've already mentally scared him enough."

"Yeah, you really have." Hermione assured him. "We need to find better spells to keep you secure…"

"No, we don't!" Remus interrupted her. "I'm going. I'm not waiting for another accident."

"None of us are." Sirius pointed out. "Hermione's right. We just need better spells."

"You're a terrible father." Remus told him, coldly. "Nothing should be more important to you than Arc's safety."

"I'm living in Muggle poverty." Sirius pointed out, angrily. "I'm keeping him safe. Having you here is keeping him safe. What if they find us when you're not here?"

"If they find us, we're dead either way." Remus said.

"I have a solution." Hermione stated, calmly. "Damocles Belby."

"_You what_?" Sirius snapped, turning away from Remus with his mouth already half open to argue.

"He's a wizard." Hermione told him. "Damocles Belby."

"_I know who he is_!" Sirius assured her, angrily. _"What about him?_"

"_You know who Damocles Belby is_?" Hermione asked him, uncertainly.

"He was in the year above us at school." Remus told her, calmly. "Belby was in Slug Club. You knew him in the future, did you?"

"No. I didn't." Hermione said. "Belby, at some point in the eighties, around now, developed a Wolfsbane Potion which prevents Werewolves losing their minds when they transform."

"_He does what_?" They both said in perfect unison. Hermione smiled.

"Damocles Belby invents 'Wolfsbane Potion' which allows a Werewolf to keep its human mind when it's body transforms."

.

"…Right." Sirius said firmly, looking from Hermione to Remus, and then to the little boy in his arms. "…Then we have to find him."

"Do you… Should I find him?" Remus suggested.

"I'm sure he's not a fan of Voldemort." Hermione said. "His nephew, Marcus, was in school with me and…"

"I'm sure you're right." Remus interrupted her, calmly. " Belby wouldn't… Do you know what his potion does, Hermione?"

"It's called Wolfsbane Potion. Like I said, it lets you keep control of yourself, when you transform. You used it when you became a professor."

"Are you serious?" Remus stammered.

"Obviously she's serious." Sirius pointed out. "Let's go and find him."

"Together?" Remus asked him, adjusting Arc's weight. Sirius looked over him for a moment, before he nodded.

"Do you want me to watch Arc?" Hermione suggested.

"_No_." They both said, in unison. Sirius forced a grim smile.

"You… Your track record isn't great with that." Remus assured her, calmly. "We have a Muggle baby sitter."

.

.

Damocles Belby lived on the edge of a mountain. Hermione guessed at Wales, catching her balance from the sidelong apparition, before following up the front path. Sirius knocked sharply on the door and they all waited, studying the wild garden, clearly growing potion ingredients, and the wards painted above the windows and doors. Belby was definitely not a Death Eater.

.

"_Oh, bleeding mother of Mordred_!" Belby cursed, snatching for a wand he didn't have on him, as he saw Sirius in the dusky light.

"Good to see you too." Sirius assured him, stooping under the low door frame. There was a bright flash as Belby dived for his wand and Sirius disarmed him, before Remus and Hermione followed him inside and pulled the door closed.

.

"What do you want!?" Belby demanded, staring from one to the other, fearfully.

"We're just interested in your research." Hermione told him. Belby appeared not to have noticed her.

"Take it." He said, to Sirius. "Whatever you want. I don't care."

"Wow. Thanks, Damocles." Sirius said, with a hard smirk. "That's very friendly of you."

"We think you're a hero." Hermione cut in, quickly.

"And we're not here for the Dark Lord." Remus added, softly. "He wants to kill us as well. Everything the Daily Prophet prints about us is lies. We're in hiding." Belby looked over at him, trying to absorb this information… And back at Sirius… And then Remus.

"_You're a Werewolf!"_ He shouted, finally. Remus gave a forced, crooked smile.

"That's why we're interested in your work." Hermione told him. Belby didn't notice.

"_Is that true_!?" He demanded, driving a wandless hand into his brown curly hair.

"That bit's true." Remus conceded. "I'm…" He cleared his throat, voice still a hoarse whisper from the full moon. "It's not… I couldn't tell you."

"You're a _Werewolf!_" Belby thrust his hand through his hair again.

.

"Yeah. I think I'm going to hit you again." Sirius concluded.

"Nobody's doing any hitting." Hermione warned him. "You all know each other. The Daily Prophet has been publishing stories about us?"

.

"Of course." Remus told her, softly; keeping his eye on both Sirius and Belby. "The Prophecy that Arc will grow up to kill the Dark Lord. That Sirius has taken Arc to Voldemort..."

"But you haven't?" Belby stammered, listening as well. "You're hiding your son?"

"Yeah, I'm hiding my son." Sirius assured him. "They all betrayed us. Now tell us about your research, Belby."

"My research?" Belby repeated, looking over Sirius and his wand, fearfully. "You want to know… What?"

"We want to know about your research." Hermione said, calmly. "Sirius, put your wand away."

.

"I work for Regulus Moonshine." Belby said, uncertainly. "I help with his research. It's not mine."

"You're creating a potion out of wolfsbane." Hermione said. "Monkshood."

"I know what wolfsbane is." Belby assured her, looking over Remus warily. "It's used to kill Werewolves… Moonshine is creating a potion to stop Hag's craving human-flesh. Trying to. I don't think he'll succeed."

"But you're creating a potion to stop Werewolves craving human-flesh." Hermione told him. "Unless you haven't realised you can use it for that yet."

.

"…Your wife is madder than you are, Black." Belby said, abruptly. "There's no wolfsbane in the potion. And your welcome to quaff some, Remus, if you don't mind bleeding from the eyes…" He stared hard at Remus' golden eyes for a moment and sighed. "A hag is insane." He pointed out, calmly. "A werewolf has human intelligence. They kill children. They're all working for Voldemort."

.

"You haven't invented a potion to help Werewolves?" Sirius asked, ignoring this.

"He has." Hermione said, firmly. "Or will. What year is this?" Belby glanced at her and back at Sirius.

"I don't fancy the odds for your kids sanity, Black." He said, softly.

"You're going to invent a wolfsbane potion." Hermione told him, calmly. "It must be related to Moonshine's 'Hag potion'. He just hasn't invented it, yet."

"He's not going to." Remus said, hoarsely. "Are you?" Belby looked back at him once again, silently.

.

"…You lied to me." He said, finally.

"I didn't have any choice." Remus assured him. "And it wasn't a lie. It was an omission."

"You didn't tell me you were _this!_" Belby said, flushing angrily. "A _monster_!"

"He's not a monster!" Sirius snarled, wand back in his hand. Belby glared at him.

"They kill children." He said. "They…" He trailed off, turning away from Sirius' wand to Remus again. "How could you have pretended to be human?" He demanded. "To _me_."

.

"Because he didn't give a toss about you." Sirius offered, helpfully. "He didn't care about you and he didn't trust you."

"I did care about you." Remus rasped, firmly. "I was seventeen. I hate what I am and I knew you'd hate me."

"You chose your friends over me." Belby accused him, his voice shaking.

"We were more than friends, you pratt." Sirius laughed angrily, in the other man's face.

"You said he was _disgusting_, Black!" Belby shouted at him, flushing angrily. "You said _we _were disgusting!"

"I don't care!" Sirius laughed. "Screw you, Belby! You shit!"

"Screw _you_, Black!" Belby assured him, back. "Screw you all. Get out of my house!"

.

"Make me." Sirius snarled.

"We're leaving." Remus rasped, voice almost gone, as he took Sirius' arm, pulling him back. More astonished then ever, Hermione stumbled after them, pulling the door closed on the angry and usless Democles Belby.

.

"…Maybe that is a different Democles Belby." She said, finally.

"Yeah, or m_aybe he won't give us the potion because he's a bastard!_" Sirius shouted, furiously.

"Sirius, he won't give us the potion because you attacked him." Remus assured him, voice hard and raspy whispers, as he held Sirius still by his arm. "Because he was my friend and you…"

"He wasn't your friend!" Sirius yelled, furiously trying to drag his arm free. "He's a dirty perv…"

"_Sirius,_ we have been together for six years!" Remus exploded. "If you've got a problem with homosexuality, it's a bit late in the day to mention it!" Sirius laughed, hard and angry but rapidly giving over to genuine laughter, until Remus dropped his arm to let him pull himself together.

.

"…Ugly shit." He growled, finally. "Sod him." He looked over at Remus, a rather ugly smirk on his handsome face.

"Sirius, that 'ugly shit' knows how to cure my Lycanthrope." Remus assured him, calmly. "He can turn it into nothing more dangerous than an animagus transformation."

"I'll get it from him." Sirius concluded, turning back to the house as Remus caught his arm again. Sirius flinched. Apparently the grip had been bruising before and Remus noticed, dropping lower to catch Sirius' hand.

"You can't get it from him because he hasn't made it yet." Remus assured him. "We have to give him time."

"How much time?" Sirius asked, unwillingly. "You're still dumping me, then?"

"I am never dumping you." Remus assured him. "I am trying to keep Arc safe. I know you want that as much as I do. I want this potion, Sirius."

"I'll get it for you." Sirius promised him. "Don't leave me… Don't make me beg."

"I'm not." Remus assured him. "You're my everything. My _everything_, Sirius." He pushed him back against the lane wall and kissed him, impressively. Hermione gawped, pretty certain she didn't see a lot of that, confounded or otherwise.

.

Sirius' flushed cheeks and started expression suggested the same. "Go home?" He suggested, keeping Remus' hand. "Together. I mean… home?"

"I have to find somewhere else to go during the full moon." Remus said, keeping a firm grip on Sirius' hand. "And you have to stay with Arc so he's not frightened."

"… But what if you kill yourself?" Sirius asked, unwilling really to argue. "Or escape into the city."

"Sirius will be with you." Hermione said, firmly. "I'll watch Arc."

"_No_." They both said. "…Thank you." Remus added. "But…"

"And _I will never try and take him away from you again_." She promised. "It's too late for that."

"…It _is_ too late." Sirius assured her. "I… Thank you. I love him."

"And he loves you. And it was a _terrible_ thing that you did. And it's too late to change."

.

"I do… I do know it was a terrible thing, that I did." Remus said, awkwardly. "There isn't a day that passes when I don't think how awful."

"Right." Hermione agreed. "…Good. It was. They were inseparable. Fred and George."

"Until Fred died." Sirius added. "At what, eighteen?"

"Let's go back and make sure he's alright." Remus concluded. "We're not going to let anything happen to him, Sirius. And if I can get this Wolfsbane Potion, we can stay together."

.

.

"Right..." Hermione said. "Wow." Remus looked over at her with golden eyes, before finishing making tea. Sirius had just left with Arc, to walk to school in the sunshine.

.

"When we were at school." Remus said, softly. "I was friends with Damocles. Good friends. More than good friends. Sirius was jealous. I don't think he knew, what we were doing. He just didn't like me having a serious other friend. James used the map to follow us. Sirius used Padfoot… realised what we were doing. He was disgusted and furious. Beat up Belby, and wouldn't speak to me…" He sighed, taking a thoughtful mouthful of tea.

.

"This was before I appeared?" Hermione clarified. Remus nodded.

"Yeah." He said. "Not that long before. I loved Sirius. I have always loved Sirius. He didn't speak to me, except to express his disgust. Tried to stop me going to see Dam in the hospital wing. Then, I suppose he realised… He completely changed his tune. Told me he loved me. That Belby had messed up my head and he'd 'help' me."

"That was kind of him." Hermione said, drily. Remus didn't smile. He sipped his tea again.

.

"He was pretty nasty to Belby." He confessed, quietly. "We both were. I… I didn't really care. I felt bad, of course, but I wanted Sirius. I wanted him to forgive me… everything."

"And he didn't do much 'helping'." Hermione offered.

"No." Remus agreed. "I love Sirius." He added, to clarify the obvious.

"So you both do know Damocles Belby." Hermione concluded.

"Yes." Remus agreed. "I think…" He glanced at the door, through which Sirius had left. "I think, maybe, I would have gone to see him, if Sirius had gone to Azkaban. If I believed he'd betrayed and lied to us all."

"Really?" Hermione asked.

"Yes." Remus said, with certainty. "Yes… So… I don't think the Wolfsbane Potion exists."

"You think… Because…?" Hermione said, dumbly. "You think he made it for you when Sirius was in Azkaban?"

"Yes." Remus said. "He'd have needed a Werewolf's help to experiment with different combinations, to find out what worked and what didn't, and they are all with Voldemort. It effects your mental function alone, so he'd have needed a Werewolf that was willing to work with him. And… a reason to want to create such a potion."

"He hasn't made the Wolfsbane Potion." Hermione concluded.

"No." Remus said. "_Yet_…" He glanced at the door again and took another mouthful of tea. "…I need him to make that potion, Hermione." He said, softly. "I have to go and speak to him."

.

.

The year was 1986, it was March, and Sirius returned to the house with supplies for a birthday party. "Is Arc six?" Hermione asked him, as soon as he walked through the door.

"Next week." Sirius said. "April the first." Hermione nodded. She had been trying to estimate what was meant to have happened to Remus. James and Lily were meant to have been murdered on October 31st 1981, but she wasn't even sure Sirius and Remus had ever got together after school, without her meddling. She suspected not, so worse-case scenario Remus could have been helping Damocles Belby create the Wolfsbane Potion for eight years. If, as he appeared to believe, he wouldn't have got in touch with Damocles until Sirius was in Azkabane, that was still around four years.

.

"Where's Moony?" Sirius asked, opening a packet of paper cups and examining them, with a quizzical expression.

"He went out to buy some bread." Hermione said, Remus' rubbish excuse. "…At least he said he did." She added. "But I think he's gone for a snoop in Knockturn Alley, for something that might help." Sirius wrinkled his nose and sighed, but then took a paper cup and filled it with water.

"Is it magic?" He asked, puzzled.

"Yes." Hermione said, trying not to grin. "Magic paper." Sirius flashed her a grin. He was _shockingly_ handsome.

"What is it?" He asked. "Why does water stay in the parchment?"

"Plastic coating, I imagine." Hermione told him. "Why are you doing a Muggle party for Arc?"

"He wants to invite his friends from school." Sirius shrugged. "And… It's not like I can give him a wizarding party."

"Right. What happened, with Voldemort?"

"Nothing." Sirius said. "He's looking for us. Says the Order had my family murdered and the Prophecy is nothing but lies. He'll keep us safe. That together we'll be unstoppable."

"You don't believe him, do you?" Hermione asked, in alarm.

"Do you see me dropping the Fidelius Charm?" Sirius asked. "Arc knows he's not to use magic at school. No one knows who we are."

"You've kept Arc hidden for six years?"

"Well, since my family were murdered, yes. Do you… I'm sorry if you don't remember much of it."

"I remember bits." Hermione said, which was true.

.

It was like, she suspected, being very drunk. Disjointed memories occasionally jumped into the front of her mind. Pulling a stumbling Arc down the street by his wrist, telling him she was taking him to his 'real' mother, a bag of clothes and toys in the other hand… Other equally awful things.

.

"…He's taking his time." Sirius said, putting the paper cups on the draining board. "For someone who's just popped out for bread." Hermione nodded. "…I might go and see Belby, while Arc's at school."

"I would really appreciate it, if you could fill me in a bit, on what's been happening." Hermione asked, calmly. "I'm a Muggle-born five year old pottering about somewhere."

"'Pottering' about." Sirius said, with a grin. He flicked his wand at the kettle and pulled up a chair. "I got farm animals." He added. "There wasn't a lot of choice. I am going to use a spell to put his name and a six on them. That's not too magical, is it? I won't make it move, or anything."

"That would be nice." Hermione tucked her hair behind her ears. "So… Everything's really different to how it's meant to be. What's been happening, recently."

"He can write." Sirius offered, considering. "Really quite well, actually. Although you're not meant to make children shape the letters properly. You're just meant to appreciate… the effort? _So don't_." He added, impressively firmly. "Just tell him it's wonderful. My tutor used to whack my fingers with a ruler, if I didn't shape every letter perfectly. And he uses pencils. It's hard. All the sides are the same. Oh my God, I have to show you this drawing he did though…" He got up and vanished out of the room. Hermione stared after him nervously for a moment before getting out her wand and finishing making the two mugs of tea.

.

"Oh, thanks!" Sirius said, brightly, before setting a piece of paper carefully in front of her.

"It's good." Hermione assured him. "…What is it?"

"Don't be an arse." Sirius growled, turning it so he could look at it the right way up. "It's lovely, isn't it? …He is a adorable. Oh, and he is utterly obsessed with cats. My Nanny breeds cat/kneazle crosses. I want to get him one, for his birthday. But Remus thinks that's asking for trouble. They just look like cats."

"Just get him a cat then." Sirius nodded, looking glum.

"You're different." Hermione told him.

"Well, I didn't go to Azkaban for twelve years to brood over the death of my best friend." Sirius pointed out. Hermione nodded.

"No. Different to the ghastly spoilt brat I spent a few months at Hogwarts with."

"Oh." Sirius considered this for a moment and shrugged. "I was unhappy then." He pointed out. "And confused. It was a terrible shock, losing my parents and Reg. And then the Prophecy about Arc, and you haven't been alright for years."

"You kept confounding me." Hermione reminded him.

"You did terrible things to Arc." Sirius said, as calmly as he could. "Worse than my mother."

"I doubt that." Hermione pointed out. Sirius frowned at her and didn't respond. "You're very different." She concluded. "What's happening with Voldemort, Sirius?"

"He's looking for us. He sends me messages." He shrugged. "But I don't trust him. And Arc knows what to look out for, in case anyone does track him down. I'm teaching him magic at home. He's very good. He uses my father's wand. I wanted him to have Reggies, but it doesn't seem to suit him... And Remus likes it best. You don't think they're too girly, do you?"

"What?" Hermione asked him, wondering how long Remus was actually going to be away.

"The plates." Sirius held one out for her. "I think they're meant to be for girls."

"They're farm yard animals." Hermione said. "And… We're in the middle of a war, Sirius."

"_We_ aren't." Sirius assured her. "If anyone ever thought I was going to help them, they buggered that up when they told my biological father to murder my son. Dumbledore was going to have me thrown in Azkaban, anyway. I don't owe him _anything_, and neither does Remus."

"Remus and I destroyed everything. By saving James and Lily we let Voldemort escape. Anything could happen."

"Not my problem." Sirius shrugged. "Those bastards are as bad as each other. The other ones had guns on. Do you know what they are, Hermione?"

"I know what guns are, Sirius. Who is using guns?"

"Muggles. Little plastic men with guns on. That's not alright for children, is it?"

"Muggle, plastic, what?" Hermione asked, uncertainly.

"Action man." Sirius said. "It's a little plastic dolly, for boys. Looks a bit like Moony if he had carpet for hair. I might get one for me."

"Where you always this mad?" Hermione took a mouthful of tea. Sirius grinned at her.

"And then some." He said. "I have to tone it down. Think before I speak and all that. Always getting shouted at for it. Anyway, I flatly refuse to buy paper plates with pretend murder scenes on. What are Muggles thinking?"

"I don't know. That sounds creepy to me."

"I might be exaggerating." Sirius admitted. "But they have the plastic dolly on them, holding his gun. Arc likes tractors and ducklings and lambs. We went on a trip, do you remember?"

"I went on a trip?" Hermione asked, uneasily. Sirius laughed.

"No! I went on a trip. You were too ill. They like dads to help out. It's very good for the children."

"And the mums." Hermione said, watching Sirius, snatch a mouthful of tea. He laughed.

"That's what Mrs Evans said!" He exclaimed. "But seriously, it's very good for the children, somehow. And you were too ill to go…"

"Having been Confunded."

"Yep. So, we went to this farm, and there were lambs, and you could hold a bottle and feed them, and stroke their coats! They are surprisingly… woolly."

"Oh, dear God." Hermione interjected, faintly.

"And they have lovely ears. And you can hold rabbits. Have you ever held a rabbit? There were plates with rabbits on, but they were pink and had 'Birthday Princess' written on them, and I'm not sure Arc can read the word 'Princess' and I bet his friends can't because Mrs. Evans said he was the best reader in the class, by far, and he probably wouldn't care. But Moony would actually kill me, and they don't make them for boys, although Arc wasn't the only boy who liked holding rabbits…"

"Clearly there was you, as well." Hermione offered. Sirius ignored her.

"All the little boys did. Except for that Dean, who dropped his and then said it had _bit_ him, just so he wouldn't get in trouble. Little git. It pisses me off that they always take him, like he's so special."

"Yeah." Hermione offered.

"It's annoying." Sirius told her. "Have we got any biscuits?"

"We've got cake." Hermione gestured to his shopping.

"That is Arc's birthday cake." Sirius told her. "…But I can buy him another one." And he opened the box and cut them both a slice.

"Are you like this all the time?" Hermione asked him.

"Moony says that." Sirius informed her, cutting another, larger, slice of cake. "I'm glad we opened this. It says it cuts into sixteen pieces, that's just a lie."

"Yeah." Hermione said. "Does Moony ever suggest you limit your sugar and caffine intake?" Sirius laughed.

"Primarily, he would be a _rubbish_ boyfriend, if he did." He pointed out. "And secondly he's more in the 'nagging you to eat' category. I have got Arc pasta for supper. Look…" Hermione watched him produce the box. "It's pasta, with sauce and cheese already on it. It's made in Italy, by Italian elves, and wrapped up in ice and flown in an aeroplane to the shop."

"Did someone tell you that, or did you make it up?"

"I just know. Can't remember how. You have to microwave it, by putting this box in a big white magic box, but I do it with my wand."

"Lucky Arc."

"I feed him anything he wants." Sirius assured her. "You can buy all different ones. There is a big flat one, that has meat and gravy and vegetables from other countries. And I give him ice cream every day."

"You do? Why?"

"He likes it."

"You know my parents are dentists, don't you?"

"Interesting. Something to do with teeth? Arc's other grandparents. He loves ice cream, but not the chocolate, which is strange because he loves chocolate, but not the ice cream. If you get even a little bit of the chocolate ice cream mixed in, he has a mini-meltdown. It's slightly adorable. Even Moony thinks so, and he's pretty mean."

.

He paused, and ate more cake. Hermione's mind felt like someone had just confounded her again. "So… About the War." She said.

"I don't know a lot about it." Sirius assured her. "James, Gideon and Arthur are in the thick of it, for Dumbledore. It's all black and white to them. They tried to make out the Prophecy was about Ron, but Riddle didn't believe it. It's messed up, anyway. Arthur's meant to keep his wife safe. They have five children."

"Five?" Hermione asked. Sirius gave her a look.

"…Arc is my_ son._" He said, calmly. "In every way."

"I don't even want to talk about that." Hermione assured him. "What about Ginny? Didn't they have a little girl called Ginny?"

"No." Sirius said. "Where they meant to?" Hermione didn't say anything. She felt like she might be sick, and pushed the cake away. "…Five children is more than enough." Sirius suggested, uneasily. "They're struggling terribly with money, and they've got Fabian's daughters living there as well."

"Fabian's daughters?"

"Yes… Twins. Fabian hid them because of your warning, days before he and his wife were murdered."

"Oh. Good… I think."

"Of course it's good!" Sirius assured her, genuinely shocked. "You save their lives."

"Yes." Hermione said, but she couldn't stop thinking about Ginny. "And Ron?"

"Your Ron? They called him Fred, remember. But he's fine. He's very spoilt. I think it's because he's the youngest. I think she still feeds him. With her _breast_!"

"Breast is best." Hermione offered.

"Well Arc's fine." Sirius pointed out. "And you didn't feed him with your breast."

"No. But that's because you stole him from his real mother." Hermione pointed out. "And I want to never talk about it again."

"I want that too." Sirius assured her. "I'm just saying Fred is spoilt. I can't imagine what you see in him, as a grown up."

"There's a creepy conversation." Hermione offered. "I need you to tell me everything about the war and Voldemort."

"There's nothing to tell. I don't trust him. I'm not getting involved. I don't owe them anything."

.

They sat in silence. "…Moony's taking his sweet time." Sirius said, finally, glancing at the clock. "Gone for bread, my arse. Where's he gone, the wheat fields?"

"So, you say Ready Meals are made by Italian Elves and flown to the shops in aeroplanes."

"I know it sounds unlikely." Sirius assured her. "But it's true. In blocks of ice. Although... I don't know if there is much ice in Italy."

"That is a puzzle." Hermione agreed. "And lambs. They actually feel woolly, do they?"

"Screw you!" Sirius laughed. "They do. Clearly you've never felt one. Their fur is really thick, and they're adorable. Jennie's mother is thinking about buying some."

"Specifically because you like them?" Hermione asked. Sirius laughed.

"She is a bit like that." He conceded. "But how amazing would that be? Lambs in the garden. Arc loves Jennie. We take them out."

"I bet Jennie's Daddy loves that."

"They're divorced."

"I bet Moony loves that." Sirius laughed.

"He thinks it's funny." He said. "And he likes Arc being happy. He's had to deal with so… much." He paused, watching Remus coming to the kitchen door. "You don't even have any bread, Remus!" He called out to him, crossly. Remus smiled at him.

"And you appear to be having a birthday party without me." He pointed out. Sirius laughed, looking at the cake and paper plates.

"They've got farm animals on." He explained.

"And hearts and flowers." Remus observed, picking one up. "Very manly."

"The other ones had that Action man shooting children on."

"It didn't though, did it?" Remus said, taking their mugs and making more tea.

"It had the doll and a gun on. And you couldn't see what he was going to shoot. It could have been lambs."

"Sickening." Remus assured him. "You know I only worry about him getting teased."

"He's already got a girlfriend." Sirius pointed out.

"And that annoys me too." Remus assured him.

"There were Pretty Princess plates." Hermione offered. "And he didn't buy them." Remus looked round at them and grinned at Sirius' expression.

"You know he'll love it." He assured him, replacing Sirius' cup on the table and kissing his slightly pouting lips.

"You taste like Pepper Imps." Sirius said, at once. "Do they sell them at the corner shop now?"

"I popped into Diagon Alley." Remus told him. "I wondered if Moonshine was maybe making a Wolfsbane Potion."  
"And was he?" Sirius asked. Remus smiled, as he shook his head.

"He'd need a Werewolf for that." He said, calmly.

"Was Belby there?" Sirius asked, scowling.

"No." Remus shook his head. "But he does work for him, and they are making a potion to stop Hag's craving human flesh. But it doesn't have Wolfsbane in."

"It might be similar." Sirius offered.

"Don't think so." Remus said, cutting the cake and passing them pieces. "Why are we eating Arc's birthday cake?"

"I'm getting another one. We're still out of biscuits."

"I'll make a cake, if you like." Hermione offered.

"No, that's fine." Sirius said, immediately, with a frown."

"Hermione is his mum." Remus pointed out, darkening Sirius' scowl.

"It was just an idea." Hermione assured him. "I've clearly been a horrific mum. I don't blame you."

"It's a good idea." Remus said. "Pads?"

"I've already brought a cake." Sirius said, pouting crossly.

"Yeah, and _eaten_ it!" Remus pointed out, randomly prodding Sirius bottom lip. "I think he'd rather have a whole one. I think he'd love one his own mum has made for him."

"I chose this cake, out of dozens. And they make hundreds of magical copies of it." Sirius assured him. "So I can eat as many as I like. It comes back to the shop the same, every day."

"From the magical land of Cadbury's." Hermione added. "Where the chocolate faeries make them."

"Elves." Sirius said.

"Birthday cakes were the only sugar I had, when I was little." Hermione told him. "I remember one birthday I had one in the shape of a pony. Why don't you buy another cake like this one, and we could sprinkle green coconut bits over the chocolate to make it look like grass, and put plastic farm animals on the top. That was what I was going to do. Although I was going to cook the cake myself first."

"I want to do that!" Sirius exclaimed, almost knocking his chair over. "I can do that. I'm sure I can. I should practice. What is green coconut?"

"It's made-up?" Hermione suggested, glancing at Remus. "Alright, it's desiccated coconut and green food colouring, missed together in a sandwich bag. To make pretend grass."

"Great." Sirius said. "I'll go find that. And plastic farm animals? And he can keep them, afterwards. He'll love it! You're brilliant!" He kissed them both and vanished out the door.

.

Hermione sat in silence for a moment before turning back to Remus.

"I might be able to convince Belby to try." Remus said, softly.

"…Good." Hermione said. "…Sirius is manic." Remus humoured her with a small smile.

"He's just happy." He said. "And anxious. There've been a lot more deaths lately. We're torn between moving further away, and keeping Arc settled. He likes this school better, and he's starting to make friends."

"Jennie." Hermione offered. Remus gave her a look.

"Ask him." He suggested. "You ask Arc if he wants to be Jennie's little boyfriend."

"Does Jennie's mum want a little boyfriend?" Hermione laughed. Remus didn't smile, although he quirked a single eyebrow.

"She's just being 'sweet'." He said, drily. "…Who eats their son's Birthday cake before their Birthday?"

"All of us." Hermione pointed out. Remus nodded.

"I'm going to grab a quick wash." He said. "I need time to think."

.

.

Hermione felt she knew Arc only a little more, from a week in which she had discovered that Sirius and Remus did _everything_.

.

Apparently the whole 'seperation' had been completely forgotten. Sirius and Remus were very much a couple. A fact that was not lost on Arc, who drew many pictures of them together, in which Hermione was a sinister and unsmiling bystander, usually somewhere up by a smiling Sirius' shoulder.

.

Apparently there was a routine that either Sirius or Remus slept in _every_ morning, while the other got Arc dressed, fed and ready for school. Sirius would then take him to school, half asleep, and crumpled if it was one of his lie-in mornings. Some days one or either of them seemed to have Muggle employment. Remus also wrote, in the house, and Sirius, rather randomly, painted pictures which he appeared to be quite good at, although Hermione wasn't sure if he wasn't just casting spells on them.

.

It was, in fact, a rather arty house. Most of the pictures on the wall, did appear to be Sirius' own work and the walls themselves were all white washed, the furniture an eclectic assortment of junk shop finds, painted in random colours. Aside from Arc's room, which Hermione had repaired herself, where this rather nice style had been abandoned in favour of the crazy puppy and kitten wallpaper and a sea of plastic toys that couldn't possibly be stored in the small room.

.

At three o'clock, Sirius would leave the house, or wherever he was working, and pick Arc up from school. He would usually then hang about while Remus went through Arc's homework with him, read, played and generally be a, clearly lovely, second parent. Sirius would zap a ready meal and bribe Arc to eat it, with promises of unhealthy amounts of ice cream, then take him upstairs to bath and bed, where he'd read or tell stories, until Arc was fast asleep, cuddled under Sirius' arm on Sirius and Remus' bed.

There was also a moment, after supper, when Sirius would suggest Arc gave her a hug and a kiss, but then Remus would have run a bath and come down to wash up with his wand, while Sirius did 'bedtime'. That was the total participation Hermione had in Arc's life.

.

Sirius would come down, happy and chatty, make polite conversation with her, drink black coffee and refuse suggestions of various food, until Remus would stalk out of the house, returning with a kebab, from a takeaway. Remus would also pick up the sleeping Arc and dump him in his own room, and then he and Sirius would vanish up to bed. It was very _very_ domesticated and weird.

There were major problems Hermione spotted. Her lack of envolvement being the major one, but also Arc's diet – ready-meals and iceream, but mostly icecream. Remus' diet – takeaway kebabs. Sirius' diet – nothing at all, aside from occasional binges on cake or biscuits.

.

But none of these problems came close to the fact that she was trapped in the past, having altered everything to a vast and horrific degree, with no obvious idea what to do about it.

.

Saturday was Arc's Birthday Party. Lots of mums arrived to flirt shamelessly with Sirius, bringing many little boys and girls. They had put up balloons and Sirius had decorated three cakes, in the style of three very muddy fields. The Mummies were very impressed, although it was clearly not the cake they wanted to eat.

.

Arc was alarmed, and after clinging anxiously to Sirius, while mummies who wanted to cling to Sirius as well, prized him off and tried to bribe him away with sugar and toys, Arc abandoned Sirius, and came to hide on Remus' lap, at Hermione's side.

.

"…I love you, Moony." Arc whispered, holding Remus' hair off his ear. "Let's zap them with our wands."

"If they try to take Daddy out the door, we'll zap them." Remus murmured, to Hermione's surprise. Delighted, Arc laughed.

"I will count three, two, one." He offered.

"Yeah. And then we'll freeze them." Remus concluded. "And pile them up outside the back door, to defrost."

.

"Do you like your cake, Arc?" Hermione asked him. "Daddy spent ages making it."

"_Ages_." Remus assured him, with a crooked grin that Arc mirrored.

"I love it." He said, adding conspiratorially to Remus. "I am getting Daddy a lamb for his birthday."

"Good one. I'm getting him a stick to prod Mummies away with." Remus whispered back. Arc laughed.

"Not my Mummy though." He whispered, _loudly_. Remus looked over at Hermione with a small smile.

"Of course not your Mummy." He whispered to Arc. "We'll prod her closer. Just School Mummies."

"Yes. And prod stupid Jennie!" Arc exclaimed, in delight. "That will be so funny, Moony. Can you really buy sticks to prod people with?"

"Only wizards are allowed to buy them." Remus whispered.

.

"Are you going to play Pass-the-Parcel?" Hermione suggested. "It's got a good prize in it… Arc? Your Daddy spent a long time getting it ready."

"…Look Jennie is saving you a seat, by her." Remus added, _possibly_ helpfully. All the other children were sitting nicely on the floor ready to play Pass-the-Parcel. Jennie, Hermione saw, had blond hair and a bright pink and black dress. Her Mummy, who was doing quite a good job of keeping other Mummies away from Sirius, was also wearing black and shocking pink, to match her shockingly inappropriate behaviour.

.

"Are you alright with that?" Hermione asked, quietly. The woman hadn't taken her hand off Sirius' arm for the last five minutes.

"I am offended on your behalf." Remus said. Arc wrinkled his nose, suspiciously, weighing up Remus' mild expression, before pushing his hair back to whisper in his ear again.

.

"We are going to poke them with sticks, aren't we, Moony." He whispered.

"Mummy can help." Remus murmured, glancing sidelong at her, with his amber eyes.

"Mummy might be about to go and have a polite word on your behalf, Remus." Hermione offered. "What's her name?"

"Jackie." Arc said. "Jackie and Jennie. They're '_lovely'_." The last word clearly in imitation of Sirius.

.

_Jackie_ finally released Sirius, as he tried to pull his arm free. Instead she rubbed his shoulder, and gave him a little squeeze, before coming over.

.

"Arc-ie." She said, crouching in front of them. "It's time to play Pass-the-Parcel. Look, Jennie has saved you a place right by her." Arc buried his head firmly in Remus' chest. Jennie looked up at him with a lip-sticked smile. She had impressive shoulder-pads, and an even more impressive Wonderbra-cleaveage, and Hermione wondered what Sirius actually made of this. "He's going through a shy phase." Jackie informed Remus.

"So am I." Remus said, politely. Arc gave a snort of laughter, somewhere in Remus' jumper and Jackie forced an uncertain smile for him. "My sister is feeling much better though." He added, gesturing Hermione beside him. "You have met Sirius' wife, haven't you?"

"At the school gates. I'm glad you're feeling better." Jackie said, unconvincingly. "Arc-ie love, come to Jackie, and I'll carry you over to the game. I've got sweeties for you."

"His grandparents are dentists." Remus interrupted. "So that's probably not a good idea."

"Everyone's waiting for you, Arc-ie." Jackie said, working long cerise nails between Arc and Remus's jumper.

"Save me, Moony!" Arc shrieked, writhing loose as it tickled. "_She's going to eat me_!"

.

This was so unexpected that Hermione and Remus both laughed, Remus standing, to get loose of Jackie. "You're embarrassing your Daddy, Arc!" She said, flushing. "Come and sit by Jennie. All the _good_ children are waiting for you."

"It's his birthday." Hermione pointed out. "He wants to be with his uncle."

.

Arc's head appeared at once, eyes wide in surprise. "…I want to be with my Moony." He agreed. "But if you touch my Daddy again, I'll poke you with a stick."

.

"…That was… unusual." Hermione said, finally. Arc, still curled on Remus' lap, giggled. "Don't worry, Moony." He added, stroking Remus' jumped. "Daddy will think Mummy said it, because she is mad."

"I'll tell Daddy that I said it." Remus said, flashing Hermione an apologetic look.

"Don't worry, Arc." Hermione assured him. "I really wish I said it too. But it wasn't really my place."

"It's not your place to hold Daddy's arm either." Arc assured her, pleasantly. "Only Moony and I are allowed to hold Daddy; because I am his big boy and Moony is the love of his life."

"_Arc!_" Remus choked. "Mummy is Daddy's wife. She is allowed to hold his arm."

"No, you are not." Arc assured her. "And I am the Birthday Boy so you are not allowed to make me sad today, Mummy."

.

"What if Daddy was falling off a cliff?" Hermione suggested. "Then could I hold his arm?"

"I suppose." Arc conceded. "But _Jackie_ still can't."

"You'd rather he fell off a cliff?" Remus asked him. Arc grinned, apparently weighing this up.

"May-be." He said, thoughtfully. "If he didn't have his wand."

"I'm still undecided." Remus offered. Jackie had actually gone back to Sirius and appeared to be 'helping' him with the Pass- the-Parcel music. "You know, I could fix him up if he just got bashed like Wylie Coyote, and I think he slightly deserves it." Arc laughed.

"You are _mean_, Moony!" He said, sounding exactly like a small Sirius. "…But you are also right." He added, as Sirius let Jackie take over the cassette player. "I would _not_ let Jennie play with my cassette player… If I had a cassette player."

"Good." Remus said, grinning, as Sirius came over.

"What are you grinning about, Arc?"

Sirius asked, kneeling down and sliding his arms around the little boys waist. Women behind him audibly said 'Aww' as he kissed Arc's nose.

"We're talking about sharing, Daddy." Arc said, holding onto him, tightly.

"You're always good at sharing." Sirius assured him. "Didn't you want to play Pass-the-Parcel?"

"No." Arc told him. "Moony bribed you not to let me win."

"Why did you tell him that!?" Sirius exclaimed, startled.

"I didn't." Remus said. "That makes me look like the bad guy."

"I heard you talking last night." Arc said, smugly. Remus and Sirius both looked comically horrified.

.

"You didn't want me to win because I have lots of presents and my friends have to have something nice too." Arc clarified. "I know that, Moony. I was listening to everything you said. Daddy said you were 'the love of his life'. Am I the 'love of your life' too, Daddy?"

"…Yes." Sirius said. "But you weren't meant to be listening to that conversation. It was very private."

"_I_ _know_!" Arc laughed, hugging him again. "You are _funny_, Daddy! Moony said all the Mummies would hate you, if you made me win, but you were right, Daddy; they would say 'aww' and Jackie would try to touch you up."

"Touch your arm." Remus said. "I said 'touch your arm'. That was a _very_ private conversation."

"You were very rude!" Arc gloated, laughing at Remus' red face. "And _very_ funny, Moony!"

"Go and sit by Jennie." Sirius told him, lifting Arc off Remus' lap. "Jackie'll let you win."

.

"Oh my _God_!" Sirius hissed, running a hand through his thick black hair. "What do we do!?"

"I don't know." Remus assured him. "It's his _birthday_, Pads."

"What did you say?" Hermione asked, watching Sirius and Remus, who were infinitely funnier than Arc and Jennie. Remus actually closed his eyes. Sirius dropped his head into Remus's lap and plucked it out again, sharply.

"Right. Do nothing?" He said. "Oh… dear _arsing_ God!"

"Pretend it didn't happen." Remus decided. "Pretend it didn't happen, Pads."

"Parenting tip of the year, there, Remus." Hermione assured him. Remus looked over at her. Sirius stifled a laugh. Behind his back Arc won Pass-the-parcel.

.

"Hermione, I'll give you fifty Muggle pounds if you punch Jackie in the face." Remus suggested.

"By the sound of it you've struck enough deals lately, Remus." Hermione told him, and went over to kneel on the floor and enthuse over Arc's prize.

.

"Sorry we're late!" Arthur Weasley said, making Hermione jump.

.

Sure enough _Arthur Weasley_ was standing in the doorway, wearing a purple suit and a bright green shirt that clashed impressively with his ginger hair. Two identically dressed red haired boys streaked past him, jumping on top of the children playing pass-the-parcel.

"Arthur!" Sirius exclaimed, in delight, rushing over to greet him, while Remus and Hermione helped injured children and anxious mothers reunite.

.

"You aren't going to say anything, are you?" Remus caught her wrist, eyes dark and intense.

"No." Hermione said. "It's too late." Remus searched her eyes fearfully for a moment before he nodded. "Thank you." He assured her.

.

"Moony! Fred bit me!" Arc howled, clutching his left hand and scrambling between them.

.

"Best Dancing Competition!" Hermione cried, quickly.

"Daddy! Fred bit me!" Arc cried, yanking at Sirius' arm as well.

"So sorry, Sirius." Arthur said, patting Arc's black hair, absently. "They've been biting each other all morning. I blame the gnomes…"

"Think it might need a sticky plaster." Remus told him, flashing Sirius a grin as he took Arc into the kitchen.

.

"Mum-my!" Arc called, as he vanished out of the room.

"Fred bit you?" Hermione asked, rather relieved that she'd been called as well.

.

"I think you might bleed to death." Remus told him, examining the crescent of pink skin. "What a bully!"

"We can hex him with our wands, Moony!" Arc said, brightly. "And Arthur, for talking to Daddy!"

"We aren't going to hex anyone for talking to Daddy." Remus said, earnestly.

"I don't like it either." Arc whisper-assured him, watching Remus stick a plaster over the vaguely pink mark, and draw a face on it. "…He's not their Daddy, is he, Moony? We like Mummy much better than Jackie, don't we, Moony?"

"Obviously." Remus glanced up at her. "And in general we don't talk about people who are in the room with us."

"It's fine when it's nice." Hermione assured him. "And I'm sorry, Arc, if I haven't been a very good Mummy." _She didn't feel like any sort of Mummy at all. She didn't feel like Arc's Mummy._

"We love you very much, Mummy!" Arc said, brightly. "…Except when you stare at Daddy's arse."

.

Remus stopped tending to the plaster and put his head into his hands for a moment.

"It was…" He said, calmly. "A _very_ private conversation."

"It was very funny!" Arc assured him. "I am jealous of everybody as well, Moony. I love you, Moony! Your cheeks are blushing very pink!" He touched one, giggling inanely. Hermione couldn't get over how much he was so, _so_ like a little-Sirius.

.

"An ass is like a donkey." Hermione offered, trying not to laugh, although she couldn't believe that Remus had said that, even in the privacy of his own bedroom.

.

"Does Daddy have a donkey?" Arc asked, delighted.

"No." Hermione conceded.

"But he used to." Remus offered. "Not 'had one' but 'rode on one', on the beach. We could go to the beach and you could ride on a donkey, Arc."

"The same one?" Arc asked, interested. "Daddy's donkey?"

"Why not." Remus said.

"And you won't stare at it?" Arc added, turning sharp eyes on Hermione. "Because we don't like that. If you stare at animals they think you want to fight them."

"For the record." Hermione said, to both of them. "I _never was_ looking at that donkey. Just for the record."

"I am really sorry." Remus assured her. "That was… very out of context."

"_Never was_ looking." Hermione assured him. "It's Jackie you want to watch out for."

"We hate that Jackie!" Arc agreed, keenly. "Don't we, Moony? She is all over Daddy like a rash! Jennie is all over me like a rash, as well, and I am only six, Moony! Aren't I? I shouldn't be thinking about girlfriends and neither should Daddy!"

.

"How long were you listening to us for?" Remus asked, frantically.

"Oh, _ages_." Arc assured him. "You were very funny."

.

"Sirius _doesn't_ want a girlfriend." Hermione assured him.

"I know that. I'm not _that_ paranoid." Remus said, still deeply embarrassed. "It was just… it was a very private talk. But I didn't even say Daddy wanted a girlfriend, Arc. I know I didn't."

"But you did, Moony." Arc assured him. "You said, Jackie wanted Daddy to make her his girlfriend."

"That's not the same as Daddy wanting her for a girlfriend." Remus pointed out. "And it was private, Arc. You shouldn't have been listening."

"But you were so funny." Arc whined, climbing back into Remus' strong arms. "And naughty. I am never having a girlfriend. I am having a boyfriend, like you, Moony."

"I'm not Daddy's boyfriend." Remus said, anxiously.

"Wait and see when you're older." Hermione said. "Maybe you'll have a boyfriend and a girlfriend, _and_ a wife _and_ a donkey." Arc laughed.

"And I am just Daddy's friend." Remus said, firmly. "I am your Uncle."

"…And a lamb!" Arc said. "And rabbits! And they can all live here, with us!"

"Excellent!" Hermione agreed. "But not 'that Jackie'."

"No. We hate her, don't we, Moony!" Arc said, squashing his hands into Remus' still red cheeks.

.

"Hey, Birthday Boy!" Sirius said, coming back to snatch Arc into his arms. "Are you going to play any of these games?"

"No because you promised Moony you wouldn't let me win."

"Maybe I was lying." Sirius offered, brightly. "Anyway, Jackie's the judge so I can take photos of you so come and do cute things, please.

"Fine." Arc sighed, huffily. "But Moony will not be pleased with you if you lied."

"Moony is never opening his mouth in the bedroom again, are you?" Sirius said, glancing at the door, to check they were alone, before kissing Remus quickly on the lips, and carrying Arc out.

.

"…What were you doing, Moony?" Hermione asked, turning to him, finally.

"…Just talking." Remus said. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face again. "Going to have to… I don't know." He sighed. "Not do this, I suppose."

"Do you think you can convince Belby to try and invent Wolfsbane potion?" Hermione asked him, instead.

"I don't know." Remus said, considering it for a moment before he glanced at the doorway. "But I have to try…"

He trailed off, smiling at Sirius as he came in to get matches. "Cake, Moony." He said, rooting through a cupboard. "Can you believe he's six?"

"No." Remus assured him, passing over a lighter. "I can't." Sirius looked up, thinking for a moment about the Prophecy of Arc's death, hanging over them, forced the smile back onto his face, and went out to light six candles on the Birthday cake. Hermione followed Remus out to sing happy birthday. Remus, Hermione noticed, made sure that she was at the front of him, next to Sirius. Jackie scowled at her, holding her daughter on the chair, on Sirius' other side.

.

The candles were blown out. The cake cut and wrapped in napkins. Hermione put it into party bags, while shameless women flirted shamelessly with Sirius in front of her, and Remus. They exchanged looks. Sirius appeared to be oblivious. He thought they were all 'nice'.

.

"Jackie's invited Arc back to hers for half an hour." Sirius said, coming back into the kitchen to take some of the party bags. "That's alright, isn't it?"

"That's lovely." Remus assured him, unconvincingly. "Just Arc?"

"Yes. Jennie didn't get a chance to play with him, with so many children here."

"…That's alright, isn't it, Hermione?" Jackie said, coming in behind him. She put a hand on Sirius' arm again, possessively. "Give you a chance to tidy up?"

"That's lovely." Hermione assured her. "Remus can take him. It'll give me and Sirius some 'alone time'. Thanks, Jackie."

"Sirius said he'd take us." Jackie said, firmly. "I don't think your brother knows the way."

"I'm sure you know the way to your own house." Hermione pointed out.

.

"Are you going to fight?" Arc asked, peering around Sirius, with interest.

"Of course not, Arc!" Jackie laughed, loudly. "Your Mummy just isn't very well. She can have a nice rest while you play with Jennie."

"We're going to a friends for tea." Remus said, calmly.

"It's Ron's birthday as well." Arc said. "He's violent and insane."

"And Arc wanted to spend some time with Uncle Remus." Hermione said, firmly. "While me and my husband have a long hot soak in the bath."

.

Jackie gave a rather forced laugh, patted Sirius' arm with something that was clearly meant to be sympathy and whispered something in his ear, before taking a party bag for her daughter and leaving.

.

"That was rude." Sirius offered.

"Daddy, that was _excellent_!" Arc assured him. "Go and have a bath with Hermione. Me and Moony are going to open all my toys."

"Maybe Daddy can have a bath while I tidy up." Hermione suggested, mildly. "There isn't enough room for two people in the bath, is there, Arc?"

"There so is!" Arc cried, at once. "Me and Daddy used to share a bath when I was small and Daddy and Moony have baths together just to save on hot water."

"I bet it's a squash though." Hermione said, winking at him. Arc laughed, and wandered out of the room.

.

"That woman is obnoctious." Hermione said at once. "There is no way you are oblivious to what she's doing, Sirius. How can you be so disrespectful to Remus?"

"I don't mind." Remus said, at once. "I think it's disrespectful to Hermione, she's your 'wife'."

"So I aren't allowed to take Arc to his best-friend's house, on his birthday because you're offended on each other's behalf?" Sirius said, crossly, and went out, to give party bags to the rest of the guests.

.

"…Thank you." Remus said, quietly. "Maybe we should just ignore it."

"I can't." Hermione assured him. "So she doesn't realise you and Sirius are together, but that means she thinks he's genuinely married to me, so her behaviour is just as bad. She's all over him. Like a rash, didn't you say?"

"That was meant to be in private."

"Well, 'private you' clearly has more balls than 'public you'." Hermione pointed out. "Jackie _is_ being really offensive. She _is_ all over Sirius like a rash. Arc is vastly too young to have a 'girlfriend' and encouraging sexualised behaviour in little children is wrong; as is letting your child win every game at his own birthday party. And you _should_ be unhappy about Sirius behaving like that… Oh, and I have never checked out Sirius' arse_. Ever_. I have a boyfriend who I want to get back to. And, to be honest, you're more my type than he is."

"…Right." Remus said, trying not to laugh. "Okay… Sirius is a brilliant dad. He just wants Arc to be happy. And, of course, he wants Arc to spend time with women and girls. That's all he's doing with Jackie and Jennie."

"Arc spends half his life with perfectly nice female school teachers, even if I have been a horrible example of a mother, to him. He doesn't like Jennie or Jackie, neither do you or I, Remus. There is something very creepy about a six year old in a clingy dress and matching nail varnish and lipstick. And Arc _doesn't even like her_."

"He does like her." Remus assured her, earnestly. "He liked Jackie as well. I was really… I just, lost my temper, a bit, about it last night. He's just saying what I'd said last night. I can't believe he was listening."

.

"You were rowing?" Hermione asked, unable to hide her surprise. "Seriously? You made it sound like you were caught in the act, 'up to no good', so to speak, and possibly bribing your boyfriend with offers of oral sex or equally lewd deals."

.

Remus checked there was no one in the doorway. "…We were arguing." He whispered, flushing absolutely scarlet.

For the first time _ever_ Hermione could tell that, in this time, Remus really was younger than her. "…We were talking, and it turned into a row." He said, quietly. "And I locked the door."

"Just for a quick 'row'?" Hermione asked, because she couldn't resist embarrassing him when he blushed like that.

"Yes." Remus said. "…But I said a lot of inappropriate things."

"I walked in on my parents, in bed, once." Hermione told him. "I was so surprised that I laughed. They didn't think it was very funny."

"You didn't walk in on your dad and your uncle, though." Remus pointed out, quietly. "Or you'd probably be scarred for life."

"Which slightly brings me round to asking; why in God's name, _does_ Arc still think I'm his mum and you're his uncle, Remus?"

"Because you are." Remus said, simply. "You're Sirius' wife and Arc is your baby. It would destroy him and Sirius, if anything contradicted that."

"Not if you'd told him the truth from the beginning. And he knows you're Sirius' boyfriend. He actually used that word, just now, to both of us. And 'the love of Sirius' life'."

"I don't know what to do about that." Remus said, uneasily. "We'll have to talk to him."

"Definitely." Hermione assured him. "He clearly isn't bothered."

"We can tell him it was a joke. Something he didn't understand."

"…Are you serious?" Hermione asked, astonished. "Tell him Sirius is your boyfriend."

"No." Remus assured her. "No. Of course not. If the Muggles got wind of that, the school."

"So you tell him you're his uncle…" Hermione frowned at Remus, trying to decide something. "Do you feel like his uncle?" She asked, quietly. Remus considered it, glancing at the door again.

"…I feel like I love him, very much." He said, carefully. "That is how I feel."

"I don't feel like his mum." Hermione told him. Remus nodded. He looked over at Hermione calmly and added, in a way that made Hermione feel her heart breaking for him,

"I don't feel like his uncle."

"We want to tell Arc about you and Moony." Hermione said, when Sirius reappeared.

"Why?" He asked, frowning at once. "What if he tells people."

"They probably won't believe him." Remus pointed out. "He drew a lot of pictures kissing, after he saw us that time."

"I had to go and pick him up from school, and be given those pictures." Sirius pointed out, even more annoyed. "You don't think that was embarrassing enough, without him telling people you're my boyfriend."

"Sirius!" Hermione exclaimed, outraged. "That is offensive."

"No, it's not." Sirius scowled, crossly. "People would be disgusted if they knew. And it would be awful for Arc."

"I think…" Remus said, quietly. "…it might be worse for Arc to be confused about it. And…" He considered Sirius' scowling face for a moment, before he pressed on. "And I love him, Sirius. I want him to know how much he means to me, even if other people can't know. He thinks I'm his uncle."

"You are his uncle." Sirius pointed out, at once.

"No." Remus smiled, rather coolly. "I'm not. Nor are you his father. Hermione is not his mother and I am not his uncle. I am not Hermione's brother. She is not a Russian pureblood, and you are… we are together, Sirius. And I have raised Arc with you, since he was a tiny baby. I love him so much."

"I think you're very selfish." Sirius said, tersely.

"_I think you are!_" Hermione informed him, angrily.

"This is nothing to do with you!" Sirius snapped, angrily. "It's _nothing_ to do with you."

"Quite." Remus pointed out, fiercely. "It's to do with me, Sirius. I want him to know how much I love him. And if he understands that Hermione hasn't loved him as a mother should, I want him to know that he has had two parents that have loved him this whole time. For him, Sirius! Not for _me_. For him."

"You'll be sorry when he's getting teased and beaten up at school." Sirius assured him, angrily. "We'll be lucky if he isn't taken into care."

"We're wizards." Remus reminded him, unrepentant. "We can confund them. No one is taking Arc off us. No one…" He added, looking Sirius dead in the eye. "…is taking Arc off _me_. Not Hermione, not _Jackie_ and not you. So go away and have a sulk or a shout about it, but we are going to do this, Sirius, you understand me?"

"Do I understand you!?" Sirius exploded, on his feet, wand in his hand. Remus glared at him. Sirius glared back, and then he burst out laughing, doubled up as he it exploded out of him, kicking the chair aside to come round the table and pull Remus up into his arms. "I love you Moony!" He cried. "Of course! Oh, _God!_ Of course! I'm so sorry! I love that you love him so much! I love you! And him! And… God! I'm sorry…"

.

Hermione let herself out of the house, walking down the road, listening to Sirius' laughter growing fainter. The sun was shining and people were starting to wear clothes she recognised from her childhood, and suddenly she was overwhelmed with the desire to find her child-self and


End file.
